siliil E165 .H175 ^••. -^o > V ♦* /,^fe'-. %„./ .-^iA". ^^.>* Z,^^--. •^...** vv ^p'=>- .v^. ■> --«5^r ^ OBIGGS & DICKINSON, PRINTERS. CAPTAIN HAIiL. AMERICA. The following Remarks were, in substance, prepared, not long after the appearance of the work to which they refer, for the inspection of a gentleman in this country, to whose kindness the writer had been largely indebted. In the midst, indeed, of mutual and very sincere congratulation on the cordiality which seemed so happily to prevail between the two nations, Captain Hall came hastily to inform us, that there existed, on the con- trary, a spirit of '' mutual animosity" — and while he pledged a whole life's observation as to its general prevalence in Great Britain, referred to his late trip to the United States as having satisfied him that a corresponding temper was to be found in that country. The intelligence was no less painful than unexpected, particularly when followed up by a stern declaration that any attempt to soften these '' unkindly feelings" was not ^' either practicable or desirable." It was natural, under such circum- stances, that his book should be closely looked into, for the pur- pose of ascertaining the temper and qualifications with which he had entered on his task and been led to conclusions believed to be as erroneous as they are lamentable. The following pages disclose the result of that examination. They are now published on the suggestion — perhaps a rash one — that they exhibit greater anxi- ety and care than have been elsewhere displayed in reference to what must be deemed the primary object of solicitude, with all those who have at heart the continuance of peace and of a mutual good understanding. The writer has had the aid of the judgment of others in believing that, although they exhibit no temper of adulation towards this country, there will be found nothing which should, in fairness, defeat his purpose of calmly appealing to reason, and of endeavouring to dissipate what he deems an unhappy delusion. The Quarterly Review has boasted that its strictures, odious as they may be, are yet read and reprinted on the other side of the Atlantic. Undoubtedly no harm, but the contrary, is likely to result from what may sometimes serve to check that inordinate self-complacency and consequent arrogance, which it is, unfor- tunately, in every nation, the interest of domestic writers to flatter rather than to rebuke. Even when told, as in the Number for April last, that '^ Ms memory of fVcisMngton will probably 1 be nearly extinct before the present century expires,^' (p. 358;) the people of 'he Unired States, while they are quite incredulous, yet listen wilii piiiciice to ail that can be urged isi derogation of their ii.stitutions, anti of their great men, in the hope that, amidst a great deal of iingry as>sertion, there may, perhaps, be foundsome useful, though unpalatable, truth. The writer has no wish to try any such severe experiment on the good temper of the British Public. He will make no invidious predictions as to the personages most likely to be remembered at the close of this cen- tury, because he can see no advantage likely to result from such puerility, and because it really looks a little like taking an un- fair advantage — since a writer, now of mature age, cannot ex- pect, in the course of nature, to be alive at the period fixed, to answer to the public for misleading them on such a point. Nor, if jealousy must be roused where so many reasons exist for kind- ness and afi'ection, is he at all ambitious to be recognised, here- after, as one of those who struggled for the infamous distinction of being the lago of the tragedy. Leaving then, posterity quite untrammelled to its election, the writer is content, despite of the supposed national foible of anticipation, to meddle only with topics in reference to which falsehood may at once be de- tected and exposed. It must be obvious that nothing can well be more difficult than to give a conclusive answer to this allegation of hostility of feeling. To disclaim it is of little avail, for this is said to be the way with all prejudiced people. Were it, indeed, pos- sible to subject to a rigid cross-examination, in the presence of the two nations, all those who have taken on themselves the responsibility of spreading abroad these exasperating represen- tations, it might be no difficult task to succeed, as in private life, in transferring to the vulgar, mischief-making go-between, the odium which he has attempted to excite in kindred families. Though it is, unfortunately, out of our power thus to pursue and expose to shame all who have fabricated or diffused the ma- lignant tale, yet Captain Hall has, in this respect — whatever may be otherwise his merits — unquestionably rendered a valu- able service to both countries, since he has, unconsciously, fur- nished as striking an example as could be desired, of the perfect facility with which all such statements may be resolved, into the folly, the ignorance, the prejudices, the rude and insolent misconduct of the amiable personages, who take such pains to convince two nations that they cordially detest each other. He undoubtedly stands amongst the foremost of those who in» sist upon it, that Great Britain and America do and shall che- rish towards each other "unkindly feelings;" and were it not for the melancholy conclusion at which he arrives, it would be impossible not to smile at the completeness of the self-delusion under which he shows himself to have laboured from beginning to end. He reminds one of the soranambulc of the stage holding up a light to his own countenance, and enabling those who watch his movements to see how completely his eyes are closed. But a preliminary question may be asked — Cui Bono? Why this morbid anxiety about what is thought or said of you in England? Why not wrap yourselves up in the indifierencc and disdain which the tourist has recommended, and laugh to scorn, or return with interest, those '' unkindly feelings" of which he speaks? " Do we worry and fret ourselves about what is said of us in America? Certainly not," " I must say, that I have always thought this sort of soreness on their part a little unreasonable, and that our friends over the water gave themselves needless mortification about a matter which it would be far more dignified to disregard altogether." With- out stopping to remark that the temper here recommended to America, is precisely that which she has been heretofore ac- cused of cherishing — and without caring in reply to such coarse suggestions, to refer to those sympathies from which the de- scendants of Britons cannot readily disengage themselves — the writer may suggest that it is scarcely possible for this mutual hatred to remain long in the system in a dormant state. There are many — very many — points of discussion which will instant- ly spring up between the two countries in the event of a war in Europe, and a spark struck out from such a collision will ne- ver be wanting to kindle whatever it may light on of an in- iiammable nature. To indulge in the language of menace, on such a subject, to Great Britain, would defeat the writer's purpose, because she would instantly meet it with defiance. Yet it may not be un- worthy even of a brave, and very powerful, people to reflect, that they seem to be approaching, gradually, but inevitably, to- wards a great struggle, which is likely to task all their powerSy and to render it at least unwise to multiply, unnecessarily, the number of their enemies. Montesquieu, in his profoundest work, has said of the Turkish Empire, " Si quelque Prince que ce fut mettait cet Empire en peril en poursuivant ses conquetes les trois puissances commercantes de I'Europe con- naissent trop lours affaires pour n'en pas prendre h>. defense sur le champ.'''* True, the course of policy thus marked out has not been exactly followed. The Turk has been prostrated, and, when lifted from the ground by his late foe, will probably rise, according to the usual course of human passions, with a new and ardent desire for revenge on those whose magnificent phrases of friendship, as he alleges, led him to expect that time- ly aid which, in his hour of peril, he looked round for in vain. Unless all history, and the workings of the human heart be be- lied, this must be the present feeling of the himiiliated infidel; and, at the next turn of affairs, he may be found the willing and exasperated auxiliary of a power, which, at least, he cannot pretend to charge with having violated that Good Faith which it is his own great boast to have always most scrupulously ob- served. England must feel that the steelyards by which she has heretofore sought to adjust the balance of Europe, are at this moment rendered useless by the weight of the Autocratj and she is sufficiently disposed to cast her sword, like Brennus, into the scale. The late overstrained civility of the Turk is a circumstance which, at least amongst all the tribes of the Abo- rigines of America, has been invariably found the surest indica- tion of a deadly and well-concerted scheme of hostility. When it shall be ascertained, then, that Turkey is now a mere masked battery of Russia on the Dardanelles, it will probably be difficult for England to avoid adopting some decisive measures. Come when the struggle may, it will of course, so far as she is con- cerned, be carried on by her Navy, and in sixty days after its commencement, the United States will be in a flame, in conse- quence of that practice of Impressment which authorizes every British naval officer to take forcibly from American ships such seamen as — in his anxiety to complete his crew — he may choose to pronounce British subjects. Is it not worth a struggle, then, on the part of the moral and reflecting of both countries, to de- precate a temper which will render the calm discussion of such a subject quite hopeless? What possible advantage can result from the vulgar and stupid invective which, in a work of the standing of the Quarterly Review, is constantly poured on the United States? The very same number which condemns Gene- ral Washington to speedy oblivion, uses the following language with regard to another favourite of the American people: " Ge- neral Jackson is now at the top of the tree; how long he may maintain," &c. "The American statesman is but born to die and be forgotten. The Monroes, and Madisons, and Jeffersons, are sunk into the common herd. We do knoiv that General Jackson's conduct at New Orleans was not such as in the Eng- lish army would have promoted the captain of a company to a majority." Surely, this kind of language is calculated to answer no good purpose whatever; whilst its most obvious effect is to excite a deep feeling of resentment towards the only people from whom it is heard. Whither are our repelled affections to turn? The offer by the late Emperor Alexander of his mediation be- tween Great Britain and the United States was promptly ac- cepted by us, and the contemptuous rejection of it by the other party was heard of only after the American Commissioners had arrived at St. Petersburgh, and been received with the utmost warmth of kindness. The uniform courtesy — the friendly in- terest on all occasions — the solid acts of service of that illus- trious personage, have made a deep impression on the minds of the Americans, who are grateful even for kind words. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the memorable declaration of Russia on the subject of Neutral Rights in 1780,* is to the last degree acceptable to the United States. The Abbe de Pradt, re- ferring to the commercial advantages of Sweden, anticipates the time when her sailors, "reunis avec les marins des autres puis- sances de I'Europe forceront peut etre quelque jour I'Angle- terre a temperer par la justice I'exercise de sa superiorite mari- time." Why compel America to look forward with pleasure to such a period as bearing upon the fortunes of a spiteful, li- bellous, and malignant enemy? But it is high time to revert to Captain Hall's Travels. The whole of the work, except what relates to the personal move- ments of the Captain and his family, consists of a comparison between the institutions, character, and manners of the Ameri- cans, compared with those of Great Britain, always to the dis- advantage of the former, and generally conveyed in terms bit- terly sarcastic and contemptuous. It will puzzle the reader to understand how he could express, on the one hand, more of eu- logium, or, on the other of reprobation; and yet there is found, at page 14 of his first volume, the following extraordinary de- claration: — "Every word I now publish to the world, I have repeatedly and openly spoken in company in all parts of the United States; or, if there be any difference between the lan- guage I there used in conversation and that in which I now write, I am sure it will not be found to consist in overstatement, but rather the contrary." And again: " I repeated openly, and in all companies, every thing I have written in these volumes, and a great deal more than, upon cool reflection, I choose to say again." " I never yet saw an American out of temper: I fear I cannot say half so much for myself," &c. The additional bit- terness imparted to his oral communications could not have been in substance, but must have been in manner; and this idea is strengthened by another paragraph: " The lady's suspicions, however, instantly took fire on seeing the expression of my countenance.^' That his own deportment was uniformly of- fensive, may be inferred from his complaining with an amusing naivete, ^^Theyw&re eternally on ihe defensive." Another favourite topic, and one which he good-naturedly, urged upon the Americans on all occasions, was their utter insignificance in the scale of nations. " I will now ask, as 1 have often asked, any candid American, how it would have been possible for us to look across the murky tempest of such days, in order to take a distinct view, or any view at all^ of a country lying so far from us as America." " They cannot, or when brought ttt close quarters, they seldom deny that they have done scarce- ly any thing," &,c. * See Annual Register for that year, p. 347. The females seem to have been the peculiar objects of his sar- castic *'tone," and "expression of countenance." Thus, on visiting the High-school for girls, at New York, Captain Hall requested that the poem of Hohenlinden might be recited. This having been done, and his opinion given, " I suppose," says he, "therewas something in my tone which did not quite satisfy the good schoolmistress;" and she asked him to state his objections. He complained, accordingly, that "in England, the word com,bat was pronounced as if the o, in the first syllable, was written w, cum.bat, and that instead of saying shivalry, the ch, with us, was sounded hard, as in the word chin.'^ It is not so much with his criticism we have at present to do, as with the sneering question with which he represents himself to have pre- faced it. "Pray," said he, " is it intended that the girls should pronounce the words according to the received usage in England, or according to someJi'inerican variation in tone or emphasis?" The universal hospitality with which Captain Hall was re- ceived seems to have excited his suspicion. "Every one, as usual, more kind than another, and all so anxious to be useful." He ate, it is true, of the " goodly suppers of oyster soup, ham, salads, lobsters, ices, and jellies, to say nothing of the cham- paigne, rich old Madeira, fruits, and sweetmeats, and various other good things;" yet he mused over all this. It wore an air of concert. " Foregad they are in a tale," says the sagacious and wary Dogberry, on hearing both prisoners protest their in- nocence. What could the crafty Yankees mean by thus fatten- ing him up? What ulterior objects had they? At length, with his accustomed ingenuity, he contrived to frame an hypothesis which settled the difficulty. This hospitality has its origin in a kind of superstitious feeling about their deadly hatred of Eng- land, and is designed, like the giving of alms or founding a church in old times, as a sort of compromise with conscience, for harbouring the most unchristianlike propensities. An Ame- rican, according to Captain Hall, is "^/craf of any opportunity to make up, by his attention to individuals, for the habitual hostility which, as a sort of duty, they appear collectively to cherish against England as a nation." Lord Chesterfield, writing to his son, has the following re- marks as to the Parisians: "In Paris they are particularly kind to all strangers who will be civil to them, and show a desire of pleasing. But they must be flattered a little; not only by words, but by a seeming prefer- ence given to their country, their manners, and their customs; which is but a very small price to pay for a very good reception. Were I in Africa, I would pay it to a negro. " Le Sage, too, in making a hit at what he found the universal human nature of his day, represents poor Gil Bias as turned oflf by the Abp. of Gra- nada, for gently hinting the truth, after having been expressly 9 t'/rdered to nonce and reporttheleastfailureof intellectual vigour. But the Americans, according to Captain Hall, manifested nothing of this silly weakness. They did not make their hospitality at all contingent on his willingness to humour their prepossessions. He said to their faces all thecontemptuous things which we find in his work, and a great deal more. There was nothing about him of " that gentleness and urbanity" which, in the language of Sir Walter Scott, when sketching his favourite character, "almost universally attract corresponding kindness." Yet these people were proof against all provocation. Captain Hall says, he went the length of declaring, that it was *^' characteristic" of Ameri- cans to retain that animosity v/hich, with the more generous Englishman, had passed ofi' with the flash of the guns. They did not thrust him out of doors, as the Archbishop did Santillane, wishing him a great deal of happiness, ivith a little more taste. When he returned from Canada to New York, aftei-^his philippic at Brockville, he thus describes his reception: " We were soon, indeed, made still more sensible of our sympathy with it by the renewed attentions and kind offices of every description, on the part of friends, who would give the character of home to every quarter of the world." He expresses a hope, that his book will be received "with the same frank and manly good humour, which I felt as the highest onmpliment to my sincerity, and the most friendly encouragement that could possibly be offered to a stranger wishing to investigate the ti'uth. Had it been otherwise, or had any ill temper slipped out on these occasions, my researches must have been cut short." And so of another City, after his return from the West, "We could scarcely believe that Phila- delphia, which however, we had always liked, was the same place, every thing looked so clean and comfortable, and the peo- ple were all so kind, and so anxious to be useful, as if they wished to recompense us for the hardships we had been ex- posed to in the West." Speaking of the entire population, he declares, "I must do them the justice to say, that I have rare- ly met a more good natured, or perhaps, I should say, a more good tempered people; for during the whole course of my jour- ney, though I never disguised my sentiments, even when op- posed to the avowed favourite opinions of the company, I never yet saw an American out of temper." Yet Captain Hall has meanly consented to borrow the epithet of The Quarterly Re- view (No. 7S, p. 356,) and to designate the Americans as ^' this most thinskinned of all people." Another of Captain Hall's favourite topics, was, it seems, a reference, in a style of his own, to the War of the Revolution. The following passages may be grouped together, and will sug- gest a few remarks. "I have often met with people in that country who could scarcely believe me sincere, and thought I must be surely jest- 10 ing, when I declared my entire ignorance of many military and political events of the period alluded to, so momentous to them, however, that every child was familiar with the minutest de- tails. And they would hardly credit me when 1 said I had never once heard the names of men, who I learnt, afterwards, were highly distinguished on both sides, during the Revolu- tionary War." " We on this side of the Atlantic, in the Old Mother Country, who have been robbed of out young, are not only left without any encouragement to speak or think of such things with -pleasure, at this hour of the day, hut in times past, have been deterred by every motive of national and personal pride acting in concert from such inquiries." "We, who were then either not in being, or mere children, could have no agreeable motive, as we grew up, to tempt us to investigate such a subject for ourselves, or to listen to the tale told us by our seniors in the bitterness of their spirit. Even if we did hear it spoken of by them, it was always in terms which never encouraged us to push our inquiries farther, or disposed us to think very kindly of the neiu countries which had gained their point, in spite of all our efforts to the contrary." " If I were asked to give my countrymen an example of the extent of the ignorance which prevails in America with respect to En- gland, I might instance the erroneniis, hut almost universal opinion in that country, that the want of cordiality, with which the English look upon them, has its origin in the old recollections alluded to: and I could never convince them that such vindictive retrospections, which it is the avoived pride and delight of America to keep alive in their pristine asperity, were entirely ybrce^n to the national character of the En- glish, and inconsistent with that hearty John Bull spirit, which teaches them to forget all about a quarrel, great or small, the moment the fight is over, and they have shaken hands with their enemy in token of such a compact. At the same time I cannot, and never did deny, that there existed amongst us a considerable degree of ?<«A;m^/y feeling towards America, but this I contended was ascribable not by any means to past squab- bles, recent or remote, but exclusively to. causes actually in ope- ration, in their full force at the present moment, and lying far deeper than the memory of these by-gone wars." " There is this very material, and I take the liberty of saying characteris- tic difference between the two cases. We have long ago forgot- ten and forgiven — out and out — all that passed," &c. "Over the speaker's head, was, of course, the large well known pic- ture of General Washington, with his hand stretched out, in the same unvaried attitude in which we had already seen him represented in many hundreds, I may say thousands, of places, from the Capital at Albany to the embellishments on the coarsest blue China plate in the country. " 11 Is not this very puerile? The anxiety, moreover to multiply sarcasms, has surely betrayed the author into some degree of inconsistency. He is first seen to account, very satisfactorily, for th'e circumstance that the War of the American Revolution has never been in Great Britain a favourite portion of history; he talks of the *' bitterness of spirit," which survived the con- test, and which always manifested itself when the men of that day afterwards even touched upon the subject to their descend- ants " as they grew up;" and an indisposition to "think kind- ly" of America was the natural result. Yet he forthwith turns round, and is very indignant at the notion that either father or son, ever deigned to remember any thing about this same war — such tenacity of memory, being inconsistent with that hearty John Bull spirit, which teaches tHem to forget all about a quarrel, great or small, the moment the fight is over," &c. Really the Captain's theory on this subject is a very singular one. He means to say, if any clear inference can be drawn from his expressions, that there can be no lingering feeling of ''unkindness," in reference to that war, because though the old people did to their dying day, speak of it in the " bitterness of their spirit," though the young, from these outbreaks of pas- sion, did take up from infancy a notion that they ought not to *' think kindly" of America, yet the Englishman of the pre- sent day is not familiar with the details of the odious contest, and has been "deterred" from looking into them, by a fear that his ^^ national and personal pride" might be too deeply wounded in the examination. Surely Captain Hall cannot have deceived even himself by such arrant nonsense. However the fact may be, certainly the language of this writer would go very far to establish the existence of such a feeling. He re- presents it as hereditary, blind, intractable; connected with a notion of deep indignity offered to those, to wliom are due life, nurture, education, whatever is most valuable and endearing. Let us suppose the incident to be one in private life; touching merely "personal" and not also "national" pride — some foul stain on the honour ol a female member of a proud house — does Captain Hall suppose, that because the details of the se- duction might not be a subject of frequent recital — because the younger members of the family might gather them, brokenly at moments of parental anguish, that, therefore, the impression of hate and resentment would be less vivid and permanent, than if all the particulars had been frequently discussed at the fireside? We must hope that Captain Hall is mistaken as to his premises; his inference is manifestly absurd. But all this serves only as an introduction to his remark, that it is characteristic of the Americans to cherish national resent- ments, and his reason for fixing so odious a charge on a people whom he found most mild, placable, and good tempered, is, that 12 they did not seem to have the same morbid horror, as himself, of looking into the History of the Revolution. Thus his doe- trine would seem to be that no incidents should be remembered bv either party to a war, unless they are of a flattering character to both of the combatants, and that there should be inserted in every Treaty of Peace an article declaring what battles may be talked of without danger or offence. Yet in England, the Frenchman is still doomed at the theatres and the places of edu- cation, to hear perpetual allusions to matters as far " by-gone" as the battle of Agincourt; the schoolboy yet spouts — "I tell thee, herald, I thought upon one pair of English legs Did march thret Frenchmen ! yet forgive me, God, That 1 do brag thus. This your air of France Has blown that vice on me!" and the youthful king is heard ^.o cheer his followers with the hope of that very reward, which Captain Hall assures us Ame- rican gratitude has bestowed on the heroes of the Revolution:— "This story shall tlie good man teach his son." " Oui' names Familiar in their mouths as household words," " Be he ne'er so vile This day shall gentle his condition." Would not an Englishman be inclined to smile at hearing his visiter from the other side of the Channel complain that where- ever he went in London — amongst the living or the dead— he found something to force on his attention the recollection of the contests of the two nations? The monuments at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's embody the strife of ages: If he walk about the town he finds himself in Waterloo Place: if he wish to cross the river, he is recommended to Waterloo Bridge; and he cannot take an airing in Hyde Park but there is the Duke of Welling- ton, under the guise of Achilles, with legs and arms "eternal- ly extended," frowning defiance at him, from a pedestal labelled with satire on France. In vain would he declare that he had forgotten all about these matters, "out and out;" that a chival- rous Frenchman scorned to retain animosity, and that it almost maddened hini to see so many images, " hundreds, I may say thousands," of "The conqueror of Napoleon," on sign-posts, snufi'-boxes, coffee-pots, and pocket handkerchiefs. It would be equally in vain for the Spaniard to ask that the tapestry of the House of Lords should be taken down as commemorative of " by-gone" hostility, and as having furnished so many irri- tating allusions against his country. But the most alarming disclosure as to the Captain's temper is in the following confession, after he had been only a few weeks in the country: " I acknowledge fairly that after some experience in the embarrassing science of travelling, I have often been so 13 much out of humour with the people amongst whom I was wan- dering, that I have most perversely derived pleasure from meet- ing things to find fault with; and very often, I am ashamed to say, when asking for information, have detected that my luish urns rather to prove my original and prejudiced conceptions right, than to discover that 1 had previously done the people injustice.^^ He visited one of the watering places, hut it was after the season had passed; and the building seems to have been hastily- run up to accommodate an unexpected crowd of company. " It is true we were at the Springs after the season was over, and, therefore, saw nothing in the best style; but I must describe things as I found them, in spite of the explanations and apologies tvhich were showered upon me whenever anything, no matter how small or how great, luasobjected to. He wished one of the windows of the dining-room to be kept open, " but there had not been time to place any counterpoises, nor even any bolt or button to hold it up; the waiter, however, as usual, had a resource at hand, and without apology or excuse, caughtupthe nearestchair, and placing it in the window seat, allowed the sash to rest upon it." The poor people must have had a hard time, with a guest, who, in the same breath, damns them because they shower apolo- gies on him, and because they do 7iot offer any apology for com- plying as far as could be done, with his wishes. Again; " When the Chambermaid was wanted, the only resource was to pro- ceed to the top of the stair, and there pull a bell-rope, common to the whole range of apartments." It is not until near the close of the book that we are led into a secret as to the bodily condition of Captain Hall, which may, perhaps serve as a clue, to many of his irregularities of temper. Certain expressions occur, which lead us, charitably, to frame for him the apology which has been made for his countryman and prototype as a traveller — Smelfungus. Thus he speaks of a tourist being so entirely out of conceit, as it is called, with the whole journey, and every thing connected with it, that he may wonder why he ever undertook the expedition, and heartily wish it over. At such times all things are seen through a bil- lious medium,''^ (vol. 3, pp. 306, 7.) With an amiable frank- ness he lets us into all the little personal peculiarities, which self-examination or the close observation of others had detected. Thus: <' I have not much title, they tell me, to the name of gourmond or epicure." Yet in the very same page he is seen heedlessly running into an excess, which any body could tell him would bring on his complaint. The only expression of enthusiasm in his book is about his meals. " A thousand years would not wipe out the recollection of our first breakfast at New York," and again he speaks of "the glorious breakfast," and finally declares it was '' as lively a picture of Mahomet's sensual 14 paradise, as could be imagined; nothing but shame, I suspect, prevented me from exhausting the patience of the panting wai- ters, by further demands for toast, rolls, and fish," (the very worst things he could take.) Of course after such a piece of in- discretion he is as heavy, miserable, and peevish, as that Sophy whom Byron commemorates, and whose savage cruelty of tem- per is referred to the like dcranojemcntof iHr digestive organs. We may advert to another of the topics of coaversation by a perpetual introduction, of which Captain Hall sought to render himself agreeable. *'The practical difficulty which men who become wealthy have to encounter in America, is the total absence of a perma- nent money-spending class in the society, ready not only to sympathise with them, but to serve as models in this difficult art.'^ "A merchant, or any other professed man of busi- ness, in England, has always before his eyes a large and per- manent money-spending class to adjust his habits by. He is also, to a certain extent, in the way of communicating fami- liarly with those, who having derived their riches by inheri- tance, are exempted from all that personal experience, in the science of accumulation, which has a tendency to augment the difficulty of spending it well." If the reader has had the patience to follow this exposition of Captain Hall's temper and course of conduct, it will scarcely be deemed a matter of surprise, that, in these discussions, his antagonists did not deem it their part to pay extravagant com- pliments to the institutions cast up to them in the way of dis- paraging contrast. He represents himself as uttering, on all occasions, and in every company, the severe things he has here printed, and worse. Surely, then, a gentleman or a lady, forced to be ^^ always on the defensivej^' might well leave the other side to a champion whose voice, gestures, and " expres- sion of countenance," were all enlisted. It appears that Cap- tain Hall is a Scotchman. Let us suppose that he were to tra- vel over England in the same temper, and holding pretty much the same language as that in which his countryman, Sir Archy Mac Sarcasm, makes love: " Sir Jlrchy. Why, madam, in Scotland, aw our nobeelity are sprung frai monarchs, warriors, heroes, and glorious achieve- ments; now, here, i' th' South,, ye are aw sprung frai sugar hogsheads, rum puncheons, wool packs, hop sacks, iron bars, and tar jackets; in short, ye are a composition of Jews, Turks, and Refugees, and of aw the commercial vagrants of the land and sea — a sort of amphibious breed ye are." " Charlotte. Ha, ha, ha! we are a strange mixture indeed, nothing like so pure and noble as you are in the North." ^' Sir Archy. O, naithing like it, madam; naithing like it— we are of anaither keedney. Now, madam, as ye yoursel are nai weel propagated, as yee hai the misfortune to be a cheeld o' commerce, ye should endeavour to .mack yeer espousals in- tul yean of oor auncieut noble fameeiies of the North; for yee mun ken, madam, that sic an alliance will purifj^ yeer blood, ane gi yee a ronk and consequence in the world that aw your palf, were it as muckle as the Bank of Edinburgh, could not- purchase for you." . The nature of his quarrel with the Irish Sir Callaghan, about a matter so far by-gone as the mode in which Scotland was peopled, may be gathered from his denun- ciation, " Though yeer ignorance and vanety would make con- querors, and ravishers of yeer auncestors," &c. ; and these are his parting words of advice, " But now, Sir Callaghan, let me tell ye, ass a friend, ye should never enter iotul a dispute about leeterature, history, or the anteequity of fameeiies, frai ye ha' gotten sick a wecked, aukard, cursed jargon upon your tongue, that yee are never inteelegeble in yeer language." Imagine a Scotchman, in this temper protruding on every company in England, into which he might gain admittance, a loud and vehement preference of the institutions, society, and manners of his part of the Island, over those of the Sister Kingdom. Such conduct would, in the first instance, be gently parried, as only silly and ill-bred; but if his letters of inti'O- duction were such as to cause his frequent reappearance in so- ciety, and he were found there perpetually indulging in the language of disparagement — putting on a harsh and contemptu- ous '' expression of countenance" towards the lady next to him at the table, who might venture to question his opinions, it is scarcely possible to believe that he could escape rebuke. Had he lived in the days of Dr. Johnson, and found his way to the Club, what a glorious day for Boswell! Writing to his Biographer (set. 66,) the great Lexicographer says, " My dear Boswell, I am surprised that knowing as you do, the disposi- tion of your countrymen to tell lies in favour of each other, you can be at all affected by of sneering, he drops by mere chance, the following remark. '^' The object of the measure, if I understood it properly^ was to limit the operation of the principle to cases falling under the jurisdiction of the United States Courts, was not meant to apply to those of the particular States." Now we put it to the reader, whether it is possible that such language could fall from one who had listenecl attentively to the debate, or who was at all acquainted with our simple theory of government? He is in doubt whether Congress ^^meant'^ to abolish Imprisonment for Debt, so far as depended on the process of the State Courts. Could he have been aware of its total want of power to do so? The doubtful manner in which he speaks of the " object" of the bill, shows that he could not have comprehended the bearings of the subject. Thus, then, has the Senate of the United States been condemned! Our impatient Captain just pops in for a minute or two — seats himself with " an air of intelligent and critical importance," like his countryman, Andrew Fair- service, at the Minster, in Glasgow — subjects every thing to a rapid analysis — is wearied — hastens somewhere else— and v/hen he returns and raids the same *' thread-bare" sub- ject under consideration, expresses himself very much like a servant at one of our colleges who, stepping in and out during a demonstration in Euclid, wondered that such large boys were still at their A B's and C D's. Passing from the general Government, Captain Hall proceeds to subject the several States to his rebuke, and he selects Penn- sylvania, " because it is eminently democratic, and has been called, par excellence, the keystone of the Republican arch." In this unhappy commonwealth he was particularly shocked at a discovery in reference to judicial proceedings, which he announces in the following terms: — "The law renders it imperative on the Judge to charge the Jmy, on any points of law which either party may requu-e. Sometimes each party will in- sist upon the Judge chai-ging- the Jury upon twenty or thirty points. Then ex- ceptions to the charge follow, and thus an endless source of delay and fresh li- tigation is opened up." He might have learned, by consulting any English lawyer, or looking into Blackstone, that the right of excepting to the opi- nion of a Court on points fairly arising out of the case, exists in England, just as it does in Pennsylvania. Such a right is, in- deed, manifestly indispensable to enable a party to take the opi- nion of a higher tribunal. To say that counsel have a right to demand the opinion of the Court on '' any" point, is plainly ab- surd, as a defendant, anxious for delay, might require the whole of Blackstonc's Commentaries" to be gone through. The limit is the obvious one of questions pertinent to the issue, and it is not only the right, but the duty of the judge, to refuse to notice whatever is irrelevant — the ground of such refusal, being, howe- 36 ver, open to review. The multiplication of material points must always depend on the learning and ingenuity of the coun- sel. The only difference in this respect, in the two countries, is the following: By the law of Pennsylvania, a party may either resort to a bill of ttxreptions, on particular points, or he may re- quire that the opinion of the Court shall be reduced to writing, and filed of record. Where it is apprehended that the judge may, on more mature reflection, be inclined to doubt the accuracy of what has fallen from him, and to soften or disguise its force, this power in the hands of counsel is a very useful one. It happens, indeed, singularly enough, that the very first pro- ceedings which we witnessed at Westminster Hall, placed in a very strong point of view the advantage of enabling counsel thus to guard the interests of their clients. It was a motion for a new trial, in a case which had been tried before the Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, relative to two barges, of no great value. There is a report of what took place in the Times of 22nd November, 1828. . The Court had intimated an opinion that the rule should be made absolute, or, as the report- er more correctly represents the scene, endeavoured to per- suade the learned Serjeant to forbear from opposing the rule.-" What subsequently occurred is thus taken, verbatim, from the Times, and we can vouch for the accuracy of the report. " Mr. Serjeant WtMe repeated his wish to go on with the case now, but add- ed, that if Uieir Lordships had read tlie evidence of the witnesses, and had al- ready come to a coiulusion ujDon the case, which tliey tliought could not be al- tered by argument, he would of course abstain from entering into any, but at the same time he confessed, that he thought, if the court wmdd listen to what he really /e/^ it his duty to urge in justice to his client, they would be of opinion that the verdict was coirect, and ought not to be dlstuibed. Mr. Justice Park. After what you have now said, I, foi- one, desire that you wiU go on. The other Judges. Go on. The learned Serjeant then proceeded in his argument, in the comse of which he V!d.s frequently irderrtipied by the Court, who appeared dissatisfied by his ap- parent obstinacy. Before he concluded, he stated, that the Lord Chief Justice had left the case to Uie Jury as a fraudulent preference. The Liord Chief Justice. Brother Wilde, be correct in jour statement. You have already said, several times, that it was left as a fraudulent preference; / have as often said, that I left it as u fi audulent transfer. Mr. Sejjeant Wilde. My Lord, / must repeat that it was left as a fraudulent preference. ~ T/ie Lord Chief Justice. I have already stated to you what my recollection is upon the subject, and as that recollection is confirmed by the statement on the other side, Tsay plainly, when you assert tliat it was left as a fraudulent prefe- ferencc, I don't beleve it. Mr. Serjeant Wilde. That is undoubtedly a strong* expression, my Loixl; and as your Lordship lias been pleased to state yom- recollection of what occiUTcd so decidedly, I, of course, am bound to yiefd to it; but I diallenge ajiy one of the learned gentlemen to state, either from note or tlieir own rnenwry, that tlie case was left as a fraudulent transfer. Let them say thut it was so, if they diu'e, and tdtce the disgrace that would full upon them for the assertion. The other judges here interfered to conciliate, and expressed an opinion that the learned Serjeaiitwas acting and speaking with greater V'ai'mth than became hun. Mr. Serjeant Wilde: My Lords, I should be very sorr}^to conduct myself witli such warmth, us to be offensive to the coui-t, but when I am told by my Lord Chief Justice, that he does not believe me, 1 confess it is an expression which I cannot submit to, and must repel. ^- The court again interposed, when the learned Serjeant said, he tliought he had said nothing which could he. interpreted into disrespect to the bench. Their lordships, however, were of a contraiy opinion, and said, tliat they cer- tainly tlioug'ht he made use of expressions which were exceedingly offensive to the bench, and which tliey xlid.not doubt the learned Serjeant would hav«; abstained from utterinef in a cooler moment. The Lord Chief Justice said, that he certainly thpug'ht the learned Serjeant had behaved very disrenpectfu 11 y to him, for he said, tliat he (the Chief Justice) in his charge had suppressed facts which were favourable to liJs client, and that he had made strong" comments in favour of the defendant. This, he repeated, he kVi personally offensive to himself, as it conxe-\^ed' an impulation oft most se- rious nature against a Judge. He wished that the learned Serjeant would ad- dress the same language to him, sitdng on that bench, that wo'idd be used between gentleman and gentleman hi a private room. On the contrary, he liad this day addi-essed language to him which might, perhaps, be used in the company which the learned titrjeant frequented, but which, he begged to add, was unknown in llie society in which he (the Cliief Xustice,) moved. Mr. Serjeant Wilde denied that he had made use of the word " suppress," and repeated liis conviction that he had said nothing disi-espectful to tlie bench, or that might not liave been uttered in any society ivhatever. Mr. Justice Gaselee said, lie was sorry to say that he really did tliink the conduct of the learned Serjeant had been disrespectful. He had challenged the learned gentlemen on the oth<;r side to contradict, &c. &c. The Lord Chief Justice then said, if the learned Serjeant had not made use of the precise word " suppress," he had at least made use of others, by which the same inference Avould be drawn. His Lordship then requested the counsel for the defendants to say, whether the case had not been left as a fi-audulent transfer. Mr. Serjeant Cross said, that it certainly appeared so, by the note of the learned gentleman, who was with him in the cause. Mr. Serjeant Wilde insisted, that although the word " transfer" might have been used, it was followed by others, by which the question of j«'cicrence was fully put to tlie jury. ?%e Lord Chief Justice again asserted, that he had not left that question to the juiT, and after some farther observations from the other judges, who once 7nore in- terfered to conciliate, tlie matter was dropped, and the learned Serjeant then pro- ceeded in his ai-gument. 3Ir. Serjeant Andrews followed on the same side. Mr. Serjeant Cross was about to reply, but was prevented by Mr. Justice Park, who said that the court thought it un^iecessary to hear him, as it had already determined that the rule should be made absolute upon pay- ment of costs. Mr. Serjeant Cross begged, he. . Mr. Justice Park said, &c. Mr. Serjeant Cross, however, repeated his entreaty, to be allowed to address the court, and after some farthtr contention he was allowed to proceed. I'he learned Serjeant then went into a long speech, in which he complained, that Mr. Serjeant Wdde, at the trial, had made use of expressions /or the purposes of witltdrawing the wnjidence of the jury from the opinion of the Lord Chief Just lice, &c." Seeing the pugnacious Serjeant Wilde preparing again to start to his feet, we left the Court. It is obvious that the whole of this abominable waste of time, and disgraceful wrangling, would have been avoid-^d if a written note of the charge had been filed at the time, for the inspection of the counsel. No 38 ohe.couid then doubt whether the judge had left the case to the jury, as a fraudulent transfer, or a fraudulent- preference. It will have been seen that the judges considered the Ser- jeant as ^^ acting^' and speaking with greater warmth than be- came him. The report contains no account of the " acting," but most certainly Mr. Wilde fully madfe out his claim to wh^t the great master of oratory considered the sum of the art. We could not for our lives perceive any of that magical in- fluence which .Captain Hall attributes to the cumbrous appen- dages worn by the English judges. At p. 34 of his first vo- lume, he shakes his head in a. ver}'' foreboding manner, after having visited one of the Courts in New York. " The absence; of the»wigs and gdwhs took away much more from their dig- nity than I had previously supposed possible. Perhaps I was the more struck with this omission, as it was the fit^st thing I saw which made 7ne distrust,^^ &c. &c. Had he witnessed the foregoing scene in Westminster Hall, his faith might have been shaken. In the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say, whirlwind of their passion, these wigs begat no temperance to give it smoothness, but rather showed like the white caps of the agitated billows "curling their monstrous heads." One almost felt alarmed at the facility with which they might be converted into missiles (furor arma ministrat,) and recognised all the wisdom of the precaution adopted at some of the lower Irish taverns of chaining up the poker. What would Captain Hall have written about such a scene had he witnessed it, in any part of the back-woods of America ? It is unnecessary to inform the English reader that " Bro- ther Wilde" is a respectable member of the profession, and that his being twitted by the Lord Chief Justice about the low company he kept, was probably a mere form of sarcasm, having no well founded reference to his habits or associations.- Having adverted to the subject of wigs, we cannot forbear directing Captain Hall's attention to the following heretical passage in the Edinburgh Law Chronicle, for November 1829. " It is said, that soon after Mr. JeiFrey's elcTation ta the deanship, a friend went up to him and wished him joy, "I am much obhged to you," was the reply, " and 1 hope it will come, but at present (applyins"' his hand to his wig to ease his head a little,) 1 am ver}- miserable." M'e desire to be thankful for two things, first, that the Dean of the Advocates of the College of Justice was so miserable, as he was under all the bar-wigs that have yet been tried on him; and secondly, that his Honour retained coin-age and fortitude enough to express his misery, and io doff them all. We have no tonsura ckricaUs now tf) Iiide; why then act as if we had '" This in Edinburgh under the eyes of Captain Hall ! He informs us, further, in reference to the judicial establish- ment of this State; "I was greatly surprised to hear that in Pennsylvania alone there are upwards of one hundred judges who preside on" the bench." He adds: "It is a curious feature 39 in the American Judicial System that in many of the States- Pennsylvania amongst others — the bench is composed of one judge, who is a lawyer, and of two others, who are not law- yers, called associate jxidves. Tiiese men are selected from the county in which they reside and hold their court. They are generally farmers — not, however, like the English gentleman - farmer, for such characters do not- exist, and cannot exist, in any part of the United States — they are men who follow the plough. They seldom^ as I am informed, say a loord on the bench. This singular custom has been adopted, because the people thought it necessary there should be two persons taken from among themselves to conti'ol the President, or Law Judge." A word in the fu'st place as to these associates, who are by- Captain Hall properly distinguished from him who presides, or as he is correctly denominated the President, Their pro- per office is not, as he supposes, to control the President, but to aid in the administration of justice. It must have occurred to every one who has witnessed the proceedings of Courts to lament the constant want, on the part of the bench, of that knowledge of the ordinary business and affairs of life, which is so rarely found amongst those who have devoted themselves to the studies appropriate to the legal profession. Hence there seems to be no great harm, at least, in having on the bench by the side of the " Law Judge," tvvo individuals of respectabi- lity, whose pursuits in life, rendei' them familiar with the trans- actions involved in the great mass of the business which comes before the court. Practically, it secures, as it were, two ju- rymen of known character, and whose responsibility does not disappear with the trial. On all questions of fact, and parti- cularly in the exercise of the Court's discretion in granting new trials, the utility of such advisers must be apparent. That they were not intended to loosen the rules of law is clear, from one simple circumstance. Should they interfere actively, instead of communicating their advice to the presiding judge, the opi- nion which they pronounce can be reviewed by a writ of error to the Supreme Court, composed exclusively of lawyers. Nor can they evade responsibility. When, in the absence of the President, the associates tried a petty case, and told the jury that it was impossible for them to pass on the questions of law which had been raised, this was held to be error. If they in- terfere judicially, it must be in such a way, that the party com- plaining, may have their mistakes in point of law corrected. That they " seldom say a word on the bench," is a proof that in practice they have the good sense not to go beyond their ap- propriate functions in the system. But our object is not so much to defend the system as to no- tice a mistake, in point of fact, on the part of Captain Hall, 40 It will have been seen that he readily seized the distinction between the presiding and associate judges, and he couples the communication of that fact, with the assertion that in Penn- sylvania there are *' upwards of a hundred judges who preside on the bench." That which Captain Hall urges, in tiie way of disparagement, only in long primer, assumes a more malig- nant type in the Quarterly Review, and there shoots upon the eye, in italics, (No. for November 1829.) Now the sirhple fact is, that the State is divided into sixteen judicial districts, and to each of these is assigned a president judge. -From their decisions a writ of error lies to the Supreme Court, the num- ber of whose judges has recently been increased from three to to five. In the city of Philadelphia there is an auxiliary court of civil jurisdiction, having three judges, and in Lancaster, a similar court having one. Thus the whole strength of the ju.- dicial corps is twenty-two. The remaining seventy-eight de- rive their appointment entirely from Captain Hall. Let it be remembered that these functionaries administer jus- tice over an extent of country about equal to England and Wales together, and that many of thcduties devolved on them, are such as in the latter countries are distributed amongst avast number of officers not usually classed with judges. They go through, not merely the kind of business which falls to the lot of the twelve judges of England, and the eight of Wales, the Lord Chancellor, the Vice Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, &c., but perform the labours which in England are as- signed to the Consistory Courts, the Courts of Quarter Sessions, the Commissioners before whom applications are heard for the relief of Insolvent Debtors, &c. Captain Hall complains, farther, that in this State, they " have done away with nearly all the technicalities of the law — there are no stamps(!) — no special pleadings — and scarcely any one is so poor that he cannot go to law." We must inform our headlong critic, in the first place, that stamps are no part of the "technicalities" of the law. They are matters connected with the Revenue, and it has not yet been found necessary to resort to such a tax in Pennsylvania. As to doing away with special pleading, it is true, that in cases of contract, a party is permitted to file ^statement of his cause of action, with cer- tain requisites of distinctness prescribed by law, instead of a technical declaration; and the defendant may, in that case, an- swer it by a counter statement. It is not compulsory to do this, and, where the agency of a lawyer intervenes, it is not usual. The truth of the charge against Pennsylvania, that "scarce- ly any one is so poor that he cannot go to law," is admitted; and we even doubt whether there can be found that favoured and happy class to which the slight qualification seems to refer. But nothing can be more ridiculous or unfounded than such 41 assertions (and he gives us nothing more) as "The life of per- sons in ea.sy circutnstances{!) is thus rendered miserable.^^ *' No person, be his situation or conduct in life what it may, is free from the never-ending pest of law suits," &c. While we concede that there is nothing to render it impossible for the hum- blest individual to pursue a claim in a court of justice — nothing to drive him into an uafair compromise — yet this evil has al- ways appeared to us sufficiently compensated, not only by the speedy redress of actual injustice, but by the effect which this very facility of access to the Courts basin removing the tempt- ation offered by a different state of things to the rapacity of the employer. Captain Hall thinks it a blessing that the poor should have no redress against knavery and fraud; for such is the amount of his argument, when properly run out. What Substitute does he propose for the Courts to that numerous class, to which he would render the latter inaccessible? A re- formation in Pennsylvania must be effected in one of two ways: either by requiring a Freehold qualification, or the possession of a certain sum of money to enter the Courts — or by render- ing the costs so onerous that one of the parties must yield from exhaustion, at an early stage of the proceedings. Captain Hall seems to point to the latter expedient. His suggestions, we think, are not likely to be acted on. The present costs are sufficiently heavy to punish a vexatious litigant, and they can al- ways be thrown upon him by a tender of what is honestly due. Labourers from abroad are, it is true, occasionally touched with the ambition of being in law, for once; in their lives — just to know how it feels — but the expense is soon found to be more than the momentary bustle and excitement, and talk of the neighbours, are worth, and they discover, besides, that they get a bad name amongst those to whom they must look for eftiploy- ment. We confess, though not outrageously radical, the ut- most surprise and disgust at language which would represent our social condition as deplorable, because a member of the " money spending class" — not always the most just, or the most generous — cannot yet say to one of a different class, *' you must either come into the terms I propose, or be ruined by at- tempting to take the opinion of that tribunal which the coun- try professes to have established to pass impartially between us. On the subject of Taxation in this State, we have a singu- lar proof of the Captain's candour. He remarks, " In speak- ing of the expenses of the United States, people are apt to con- sider those only which belong to the general Government. I have taken pains," &c. After this note of preparation we are given to understand, that the annual disbursement of Pennsyl- vania, amounts to nearly two millions and a half of dollars ^ and a calculation is made how much must, in consequence, be paid j9er head. When it is known, that this State has neither 6 42 Army nor Navy, and that the Custom House Officers are paid by the General Goyernment, it will doubtless puzzle the rea- der to conjecture what can run away with so much money. The secret i&, that it was employed in making a Canal, from the eastern to the western part of the State, during the year which Captain Hall has selected! Yet we have not the slightest hint to that effect, and the Englishman is led to suppose, that, in the event of emigrating to this State, he must expect to i>zy, every year, his portion of a sum so enormous. It would, obviously, be just as fair to say that the sums similarl)^ employed by the Duke of Bridgewater ought to be considered as items of ex- pense incidental to his oi*dinary establishment; and the capi- talist who builds a range of houses to rent, would be pronounced by Captain Hall a ruined spendthrift. We can scarcely give the tourist credit for ignorance on this occasion, inasmuch as the truth is disclosed fii the very document which he quotes. He has specified the amount of the items of civil expenses, and of the legislature, making together one^tioelfth part of the ag- gregate sum. Why silent as to the employment of the residue? We know not unless it be for the reason that a fair disclosure would show that this expenditure, which the reader of course deems a yearly-recurring one, was in fact of a temporary nature, and that even the money actually disbursed, is represented by a m.digmhc^nid.nd productive public work. The Governor, in his message of November 4th, says, "There are now 177 miles of the Canal in actual operation. The works have been found to be .of such solidity as to produce no other delay than is in- cident to the best executed works of like magnitude. It is confidently hoped that early next summer, there will be not less than 400 miles of the Pennsylvania Canal in full operation. To this extent of navigation is to be added, that of the Schuyl- kill and Lehigh Canals, and of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal." Captain Hall traversed the State in the direction of this Ca- nal, and was at points where the work was vigorously proceed- ing; and it is a fact, that toll was received from it, prior to the publication of his book. He had said, after speaking of the New York Canal, " It would be invidious and perhaps ra- ther tiresome to describe the numerous abortive schemes for Canals, and Rail roads, which the success of this great work has set on foot, particularly as opportunities of touching upon them will occur as we go on." Of such an opportunity he does not choose to avail himself in the case of the Pennsylva- nia Canal, even when exhibiting the prodigal disbursements of the State. Had he carried his Statistics a little farther on- ward, he would have found a yet larger expenditure of money by Pennsylvania, on tiiis great work. He has dwelt at much length on the Welland Canal of Canada, not yet completed. 43 That work, when finished, will owe its existence hot to the ef- forts and resources of the Provinces, but to an incorporated company, the shares of which are, it is believed, owned prin- cipilly in Great Britain, particularly by the Canada Land Com- pany, one of those joint stock concerns which sprung up in London in 1S25. At all events, it is a project the merit of which cannot go beyond the share-holders. With regard to the Pennsylvania Canal, the disbursement of the State, of which every citizen bears a part, during a single year (Report of the Treasurer of the Canal Board, to the Senate, Hazard's Penn- sylvania Register, vol. iii. p. 272,) is four tinies greater than the whole amount of the Stock subscribed of the Welland Ca- nal. (•' Three Years in Canada, by John M'Taggart, Civil Engineer," vol. ii. p. 144.) As to the Rideau Canal, the com- pletion of which Captain Hall urges so strongly on the Bri- tish Government, Mr. M'Taggert (vol. i. p. 15C,) thinks its ac- tual cost will treble that originally contemplated; yet assuming his estimate to be correct, it will appear that the single year's expenditure of Pennsylvania above referred to, exceeds that es- timate by one million of dollars. We must bear in mind that Pennsylvania derives no aid from the general Government, which draws so large a portion of its revenue from her great seaport. Canada, on the contrary, is not to render any as- sistance towards the Hideau Canal, though its Custom House duties are placed at the disposal of the Provincial Government, (Captain Hall, vol. i. p. 419,) and our tourist justly remarks, ^' were they to become members of the American Confedera- cy, all such duties would be subjected to the control of the Con- gress at Washington." These observations are made in no in- vidious temper, but they seem to heighten the unfairness of, not only refusing to give Pennsylvania credit for her energy, but, by concealing the objects of expenditure, actually turning into matter of reproach the truly liberal and enlightened poli- cy by which her councils have been distinguished. It is need- less to say that the remark made with regard to Pennsylvania, is equally applicable to New York, whose principal canal cost (Captain Hall, vol. i. p. 173,) more than fourteen times the amount of the Stock of the Welland Canal. The Customs of the seaport of that State, also, flow to the general governme"nt, and lent no assistance to the enterprise. Our tourist discovered that in each of the twenty-four States of the Union there is a separate judicial establishment, not ame- nable to any common head, but passing finally on every point of law vs^hich may arise before it. He infers that such a circum- stance must greatly confuse the administration of justice, and render commercial intercourse very unsafe. As this is a.subject best illustrated to the general reader by referring to what is fami- liar to him, it may be well to take for that purpose the case of 44 England and Scotland, which lie amicably side by side, like . New York and Penr;sylvania, although, the former are of com- paratively diminutive size. Will it be pretended that there is any thing like the conformity between the systems of law which prevail in these two parts of Great Britain, as there is between those of the States we have named? Certainly not by any one who has the slightest knowledge of the subject We are relieved from the necessity of furnishing the various references we had prepared, by meeting with the following remarks, in the intro- ductory article to "The Scots Law Chronicle, or Journal of Jurisprudence and Legislation, conducted by Professional Gen- tlemen" — a periodical work commenced at Edinburgh during the last year, and displaying great ability. *' In the reign of James the First of England, and Sixth of Scotland, the ministry, and particularly Lord Bacon, then So- licitor General of England, made some efforts in Parliament, and otherwise, to assimilate the laws and practice of England and Scotland; but the prejudices which existed on both sides of the Tweed prevented any material progress being at that period effected. Since that time, notwithstanding the union of the Crowns of both kingdoms, and the legislature of each, the laws of England and Scotland have been kept separate, and adminis- tered in different forms. The English system is distinguished by the preference given to the common law in opposition to the civil law. The Scots system has been taken Jrom the civil law and the laws and customs of the Continental nations, particularly France, betiveen which and Scotland an alli- ance and intiTnate intercourse existed many centuries. For example, the Act of the Scots Parliament of King James the Sixth (afterwards James the First of England,) 1593, c, 180, is in the following terms — (We give only the concluding words of the Statute, "According to the lovable form of judgment used in all gude towns of France and Flanders, quhair burses are erected, and constituted and speciallie in Paris, Roan, Bor- deaux, Rochelle.") " Foreign laws and authorities were then, and still are, permitted to be quoted in the Scots courts, with- out any other limitation than the discretion of the advocate. English laivyers are, in general, profoundly ignorant of the Scots laws, customs, and practice, and strongly preju- diced against them. Of this a remarkable instance occurred on the occasion of Wakefield's trial for the abduction of Miss Turner, in which a Scots barrister was examined as to the Scots law of marriage. Mr. Brougham, and an army of English barristers, animated by the amor patrise of John Bull, thought they had caught the Caledonia-i in their own coils, from which he could not escape without exposing the ignorance of the Scots bar generally, and proving that the boasted system of the aca- demical education of his nation, as to the civil law, was mere iij sham and farce. In another instance, on the appointment of a Scots barrister to be a judge at the Cape of Good Hope, Mr. Brougham, in his place of Parliament, arraigned the Govern- ment for overlooking the English bar. In his opinion it was "absurd" to send judges from the Scottish bar to the Colonies." The writers add, " it not unfrequently happeiis that what is held to be sound law and equity in Scotland, is held the reverse in England. Mr. Sugden, lately, in an appeal case, before the Peers, in which he was counsel, delivered a tirade against the whole law of Scotland. This celebrated ebullition has raised his fame, &c. (ib.) One important circumstance is not referred to by this writer, viz., that by the 18th Article of the Union, it is declared that the laws relating to private rights are not to be altered, but for the '■'evident utility of the people of Scotland," a provi- sion, the jealous caution of which may have contributed to throw insuperable obstacles in the way of a legislative effort at assimi- lation, even if it could, under any circumstances, be deemed practicable to break up, and remodel, a system which has been so long accomodating itself to the exigencies, as well as to the ha- bits and prejudices, of the people. What are the consequences of this state of things? Does the English trader deem it neces- sary to purchase a Library of Scots Law Books, before he opens an account at Edinburgh or Glasgow? He thinks no more of this, than of learning French and studying the Code Napoleon, before he sends an order to France for silks or brandy. Nay, he is compelled to remain in the same ignorance of the law of his own country, for it has long been held a point of ridicule to attempt to master it, and the reports in every morning's newspaper, furnish him with new grounds of marvel at its un- certainty. He is fain to rely on the presumption that there will be found, in every civilized country, certain general principles of justice and good faith, by which his rights will be protected, should he unfortunately be involved in litigation. But Captain Hall v/ill ask, have I not heard of " Scotch Ap- peal Cases," and are not the questions which they involve final- ly settled in the House of Lords? Certainly they are, but these cases settle only points of Scots Law. They bring it into no greater conformity with that of England. In the same manner, on the 1st of December last, there came before the Privy Coun- cil the case of Simpson v. Forrester, an appeal from the Island of Demarara, (See Morning Herald of December 2d.) It was curious, in the middle of the proceedings, to see The Paymas- ter of the Forces come in and take his seat at the Board. The controversy turned on the principles of the Dutch Civil Law, and was argued accordingly; but we feel persuaded that the pains-taking and laborious fathers of that system would have been very little edified by the discussion. Without going to 46 India, or Canadn, or the Cape of Good Hope, we may note that the outskirts of the Mother Island itself are governed by sys- tems of law essentially different from each other. Thus *'the Isle of Man is a distinct territory from England, and is not go- verned by our linvs;" (Biackstone. ) "The islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Alderney, and their appendages, were parcel of the Duchy of Normandy, and were united to the crown of England by the first Princes of the Norman line. They are governed by their own laws, which are for the most part the. du- cal customs of Normandy, being collected in an ancient book of very great authority, entitled Le Grand Costumier. The King's writ or process from the Courts of Westminster, is there of no force."— (ib. ) Thus, then, we have the comfort to know that the various parts of this great commercial empire — nay, portions of the same island,- — are under the dominion of laws radically dissimi- lar in their principles, their forms of proceeding, and even in their language; and ye4, none of those " moral convulsions" have resulted with which Captain Hall so seriously threatens the unhappy people of the United States. But it happens to be our singular good fortune to enjoy a de- gree of similarity in the laws throughout the United States, un- precedented elsewhere. The Common Law prevails, with a trifling exception, over the whole of the Union. There is scarcely a j9a/o/,s in its dialect. The lawyer of Pennsylvania can advise as to a case depending in New York, so far as it turns on common law principles. The books resorted to are precise- ly the same. And so of the other States, from Maine to Geor- gia. The text book throughout is Biackstone, and each mind is incumbent over the same principles. One striking advantage of this state of things is, that the la- bours of every lawyer, and every judge, render a mutual aid. A happy illustration— a fortunate reference — or a striking ana- logy, is not a mere local benefit. Every member of the pro- fession knows instantly where to common-place it. In Great Britain, on the contrary, England and Scotland offer no such co-operation. They are engaged on different systems. The workings of the Scotch mind are unknown to English jurispru- dence. Mr. Jeffrey once asked with a sneer, " Who reads an American Book?" We may ask, in return, " W'iio reads a Scotch case?" The force — the acuteness — the learning of the North offer no contribution to the general stock. This is un- doubtedly a great evil. When we recollect what Scotland has done for the Philosophy of the Human Mind, and for Medicine, it is painful to reflect how completely her great intellectual pow- ers have been lost to us in Law, and that the very tenns which the Judge employs, are an almost incomprehensible jargon. 47 *' BiU'barus hie sum quia non iutelligor ulll." It is said, with an air of great alarm, that Reports are pub- lished of decisions in the different State Courts, and that this multiplicity of books must lead to confusion. Let it be recol- lected, however, that the decision made in each State, whether right or wrong, furnishes a conclusive rule in that State. It is not the less uniform and unvarying in its application, because a different rule may obtain in England, or in any of the sister States. There is no confusion or faltering in the actual admi- nistration of justice. Why, then, should harm result from the publication of decisions? If they had remained, be it observed, in manuscript or in the memory, nobody would be perplexed, and they would interest no one beyond the limits of the par- ticular State. The benefit, to be derived from their publication is manifest. If a lawyer in Pennsylvania be anxious to learn how the law stands on a particular point in New York, he as- sumes, that Chitty or Sugden, will furnish a clue, but it is all the better if he can, instead of writing to New York for in- formation, refer to an Index of decisions, and ascertain, in a moment, whether the question has actually engaged the atten- tion of the Judges of that State. It will not be denied that the practitioner as well as the citizen of the State, in which the decisions form a binding rule, is greatly interested in having them placed within his reach, through the press. But the com- plaint is, that elsewhere, each volume published forms a dis- tressing addition to the Law Catalogues. According to this, it would lead to great confusion in Eng- land, if the Scots Reports were intelligible to the English bar- rister; and it would be much better for us, if the systems of law, in the several States, were so decrepant that no one of them could borrow illustration from the other. Suppose our neighbour Mexico, were to adopt the Common Law — ought we to regret the circumstance! Captain Hall says, yes — be- cause here would be a twenty-fifth ♦* co-ordinate" tribunal on the same continent, deciding points of law, and, by and by, volumes of reports will come out to annoy and perplex us.* It might, with quite as much force, be urged, that the multipli- city of reports published in the United Stales, is calculated to confuse the English Courts. These books profess to illusti'ate the Common Law, and, if possessed of merit, there is no rea- son why they should not be sought for, and read, wherever that law prevails. They are no more binding on the Courts of the other States, than on the King's Bench. Their weight, out of the particular State, is derived not from the official character of the person who has pronounced the decision, but from the degree of talent, which is supposed to have been brought to its composition. An Essay by Mr. Kent, or Mr. Spencer, will carry greater influence than a judicial opinion of the Court over 48 which they recently presided. In short, supposing what is not tlie fact, that each State had its reporter, the result would be no- thing more, than if twenty-four gentlemen of professional res- pectability were employed in publishing so many editions of Blackstone, or any other elementary writer, with comments. Whoever'will take the trouble to glance over these reports, or even to look over a digest of them will be surprised to find how little discrepancy there is amongst the different tribunals. They reach the same conclusion with a greater or less display of learn- ing and ingenuity. This fact will be very apparent on looking over a standard English work, republished "with American notes." The result, then, will not be as Captain Hall supposes, a " moral convulsion," but that it will not be thought neces- sary for the lawyer to run his eye eagerly over the Index of every volume that appears in law-binding. The truth is, eve- ry one must know the utter impossibility of mastering even what is of established authority in the law. Who can pretend to have read Viner's Abridgment, and verified all the refer- ences? "If," says Lord Erskine, "a man were to begin to read his Law Library through, he would be superannuated be- fore he came to the end." Even in Selden's day, "The main thing is to know where to search." (Table Talk.) Amongst this vast collection of books some principle of selection must, of course, be adopted, and the best, undoubtedly, is that of re- sorting to the great master spirits of the system. The late Mr. Pinkney, who stood at the head of the American bar, ne- ver tired of Coke Littleton. In this science, as in every other, students are driven to adopt Pliny's rule of reading not " mul- ta," but " multum." It cannot be a grievance to the Ameri- can la wj'^er that some of these standard works are the produc- tion of his own country. We should note that, in the United States, the interpretation of the Constitution, of Treaties, and of Acts of Congress, rests exclusively with the Supreme Court of the Union. A case in- volving a question of this kind, and decided adversely to the claifh set up under either of them, may be carried to that tri- bunal even though it originate in a State Court. In exposing the mistakes, into which our tourist is sure to fall whenever his criticism assumes a definite shape, we have given the only answer which can well be furnished to the greater part of his book. As to general invective against popu- lar influence, it is precisely the language which every despot would hold with regard to this country. If Don Miguel were to publish an account of his visit to England, he might borrow most of these pages, and the only possiisle answer would be to ask him, as we do Captain Hall, to point out the evils which have resulted from it. He seems to think, that he has made out his case yery triumphantly against the people, by asking 49 what we would think of their deciding upon *' the best kind of escapement in the machinery of a Chronometer," or " how a stranded ship should be got off a reef of rocks." This argu- ment, too, will apply just as well to England as to America, unless, by a peculiar plan of reform, he can contrive to disfran- chise all except the rotten boroughs. The voters who actually return members to Parliament he will scarcely describe as men of profound learning and sagacity. Here, then, pro tanto, is a vicious part of the system. But, farther, even supposing the questions presented to a voter, to be as abstruse as the points to which Captain Hall refers, we must beg hitn to remember that the latter may come, even in England, before the very persons whom he so much derides. Suppose nn action, on a contract for a supply of the best description of Chronometers, or a con- test between the master of a ship, and his owners, or freighters, as to the exercise of due diligence and skill, the decision must, in either case, unavoidably, devolve on the very men, as jurors, whom Captain Hall holds in such sovereign contempt. They listen to testimony, as the voter does to political reasoning, but the ultimate responsibility is thrown on their judgment. Such is the peril of an illustration! It should be mentioned, by the way, that Captain Hall, by assuming what he deems a graceful air of candour, seems to have prepared, in anticipation, an apology for the bhuiders into which his rashness might lead him. Thus, at Philadelphia, a gentle- man took him to task, about an opinion on the subject of lan- guage, which he had advanced in his book on Loo Choo. " Be- fore he proceeded far in his argument, he made it quite clear, that I had known little or nothing of the matter; and when at length, he asked, why such statements had been put forth, there was no answer to be made, but that of Dr. Johnson to the lady, who discovered a wrong definition in his Dictionary, *' sheer ignorance, madam!" Now, we very much question his right to take refuge under the mantle of Dr. Johnson, and we are quite sure that the Doctor would have indignantly repelled him. The best of human works, after the most anxious prepa- ration, are liable to error; but this is scarcely a sufficient vindi- cation of him who travels out of his proper sphere, and hazards reckless assertions about matters which he has not even attempt- ed to master. He may mislead the ignorant, while he cannot render the slightest aid to those who are competent to form an opinion. Captain Hall thinks it very absurd to suppose that an American citizen is qualified to exercise, understandingly, the right of suffrage; and yet he undertakes, during his ride over the country, to denounce all its institutions and its whole course of policy. We proceed to notice some of his remarks of a different de- scription. 7 50 He has descanted, largely, on tlie practice of giving to our towns the names of the celebrated places or persons of antiqui- ty; and this part of his book aifords, perhaps, a pretty fair spe- cimen of the powers of reasoning and reflection which he dis- plays on topics, not demanding any constitutional or legal know- ledge. When he first heard these towns familiarly spoken of, by " stage drivers, and stage passengers," he tells us, that " an involuntary smile found its way to the lips, followed often by a good hearty laugh " He, afterwards, underwent several changes of opinion on the subject to which we shall advert, after first of- fering a fevv words of explanation. That a town containing a large number of houses and inhabi- tants, is entitled to a name of some kind or other, will scarcely be denied. Having, then, exhausted the old stock of family ap- pellatives, whither are we to turn? The shifts to which England has resorted are truly embarrassing to a stranger. Thus, if he have an acquaintance at " Newcastle," he may not hope that a letter, thus directed, will reach its destination by mail, unless he know whether the proper addition be " under Line,^^ or " upon Tyne.^' Then there is " Henley iipon Thames,'' and " Hen- ley in v^rdeUf" &c. &c. In London, too, the same scanty no- menclature is a source of like inconvenience. The American Consul's Office is in Bishopsgate Street; aye, but " Bishopsgate Street within,'' or " Bishopsgate Sti;eet ivithout?'^ The word iVe?^ is in perpetual requisition, '■^ New Bond Street," *^ New Burlington Street," &c., whilst half-a-dozen of the same name are distinguishable only as attaches to different Squares, and are very much offended, if the title be not given in full. Every stranger remembers, " I have ordered supper to-night in East- cheap," but if he go in pursuit of the Boar's Head with no other clue, he is quite embarrassed to find, that in the march of im- provement, there is ^' Great Eastcheap," and ^^ Little East- cheap," and in his vexation, he is tempted to wish that these people had known, where, as Falstaff says, "a commodity of good names were to be bought." To obviate this liability to confusion is, of course, the first ob- ject, and though there be not much in a name, yet, in making a selection, it is quite natural that some reference to a feeling of propriety should mingle in the debate. Captain Hall would have been startled at coming to a place called Jilgiers, just as he would have looked round with surprise, at hearing an American saluted as Benedict Arnold. In domestic life we are fond of conferring on our children names which may place before their eyes, as models, such of our relatives as were most estimable for conduct and character, so as not only to furnish a generous in- centive to virtue, but a perpetual rebuke of unworthiness. We venture to assert, that this important matter was duly attended to, in reference to Captain Hall's amiable little fellow-traveller, 51 aged fourteen months. In acting on this analogy, it happens, that as we are the oldest living' republic, we are necessarily driven back to ancient times. Now, it is singularly unfortunate for us, that all the Captain's prejudices run in an exactlj'^ oppo- site direction from ours. Thus he ridicules the State Legisla- tures, because he finds in them, Farmers, " not, however, like the English Gcntki7ian farmer, for such characters do not ex- ist, and cannot exist in any part of the United States; they are men who follow the plough." Of course, had he been one of those who waited on Cincinnatus, in old times, to offer him the dictatorship, and found him engaged in the same derogatory em- ployment, Captain Hall would have turned off with huge dis- dain — have pronounced the Roman to be "no gentleman," and declared that he was not at all the sort of person for their pur- pose. "When, thorefore, he found a great town called after such a personage, his smile, we suspect, was at figuring to himself the odd idea of a General holding the plough lines. But let us hear first his reasoning in our favour, and then the grounds of his con- demnation. He represents himself to have become ashamed of the mirthful spirit which he at first manifested, '' All these un- courteous and irrepressible feelings of ridicule, (i. e. a loud, im- pudent laugh in the face of his fellow-passengers, at words inci- dentally occurring in their conversation,) " were F hoped quite eradicated." He began to think that the Americans, "although they had broken the cords of national union, were still disposed to bind themselves to us, by the ties of classical sentiment at least." He thus proceeds: " By the same train of friendly rea- soning, I was led to imagine it possible, that the adoption of such names as Auburn — ■'■ loveliest village of the plain' — Port Byron, and the innumerable Londons, Bublins, Edinburghs, and so on, were indicative of a latent or lingering kindliness towards the old country. The notion, that it was degrading to the venera- ble Roman names, to fix them upon these mushroom towns in the wilderness, I combated, I flattered myself somewhat adroit- ly, on the principle, that, so far from the memory of Ithaca or Syracuse, or any such place, being degraded by the appropria- tion, the honour rather lay with the ancients, who, it is the fa- shion to take for granted, enjoyed a less amount of freedom and intelligence than their modern namesakes. 'Let us,' I said one day, to a friend, who was impugning these doctrines, 'take Syra- cuse for example, which in the year 1820, consisted of one house, one mill, and one tavern; now, in 1S27, it holds fifteen hundred inhabitants, has two large churches, innumerable wealthy shops, filled with goods brought there by water-carriage from every cor- ner of the Globe; two large and splendid hotels; many dozens of grocery stores or whiskey shops; several busy printing presses, from one of which issues a weekly newspaper; a daily post from the east, the south, and the west; has a broad canal run- 52 ning through Its hosom; in short, it is a great and free city. Where is this to be matched,' I exclaimed, 'in Ancient Italy or Greece?' " " It grieves me much, however, to have the ungracious task forced upon me, of entirely demolishing my own plausible han- diwork. But truth renders it necessary to declare, that on a longer acquaintance with all these matters, I discovered that I was all in the wrong, and that there was not a word of sense in what I had uttered with so much studied candour. What is the most provoking proof, that this fine doctrine of profitable asso- ciations was practically absurd, is the fact, that even I myself, though comparatively so little acquainted with the classical sounding places in question, have, alas! seen and heard enough of them, to have nearly all my classical recollections swept away by the contact.. Now, therefore, whenever I meet with the name of a Roman city, or an author, or a general, instead of having my thoughts carried back, as heretofore, to the regions of antiquity, I am transported forthwith, in imagination, to the post-road on my v,'ay to Lake Erie, and my joints and bones turn sore at the bare recollection of joltings, and other nameless vulgar annoyances by da}' and by night, which I much fear, will outlive all the little classical knowledge of my juvenile days." When we remember that the eat^ly emigrants to Rome were thieves and cut-throats — that its corner stone was stained by the blood of the founder's brother — that wives were procured from the Sabines by a process of courtship, for which, in modern times, the wooers would be all hanged or transported — and that the very site of the infant town was chosen from some absurd superstition about a flight of birds — the presumption of adopting even that proud, name, may not, perhaps, be deemed altogether unpardonable. These towns have grown up with a rapidity greater than that of Rome. They were founded by men, who brought with them virtuous wives and daughters, and whose earliest object, in the case referred to by the tourist, was to build **tvvo large churches" for the purpose of worshipping God ac- cording to the dictates of that religion for which Captain Hall professes a very sincere zeal. He might well ask, then, whether the origin of any heathen town of antiquity presents a spectacle half so interesting to the philanthropist or the Christian. But the reason which he assigns for his ultimate decision is the most singular part of the whole matter. After having confuted his anonymous friend in the argument, as he generally contrives to do on all these occasions, he seems anxious to show that he can "confute, change sides, and still confute." He decides that the Americans are all wrong, because Ae, a passing traveller, in- stead of bearing away with him a thousand circumstances which might kindle admiration and enthusiasm, perversely chooses to remember nothing, except that he met, somewhere in the neigh- 53 bourhood, a piece of bad road! This is the whole of his argu- ment. Is it, to use his favourite epithet, a very '* philosophi- cal'* one? Gibbon, in a letter from London, in 1793, speaking of the highway a few hours' ride from the metropolis, says, " I was almost killed between Sheffield Place and East Grinsted, by hard, frozen, long and cross ruts, that would disgrace the ap- proach of an Indian wigwam." Yet he did not take a disgust either to London, or to the residence of his friend, Lord Shef- field. Even Captain Hall professes to revert with infinite plea- sure to the scenes he witnessed in Canada," notwithstanding all the horrors of his ox-cart. " Over these horrible wooden cause- ways, technically called corduroy roads, it would be misery to travel in any description of carriage, but in a wagon or cart, with nothing but wooden springs, it is most trying to every joint in one's body. A bear-skin, it is true, is generally laid on the seat, but this slips down or slips up, in short, somehow or other, the poor voyager's bones pay for all, notwithstanding the tender mer- cies of the bear. The recollection of such annoyances, howe- ver, were they twenty times greater, would vanish beneath the renewed touch of agreeable society. On reaching York," &c. We are occasionally led, indeedj to suspect, not a little, the in- tegrity of the Captain, in his assumption of a sort of blufi', down- right, temper, which compels him to make offensive remarks. *' I must say this," "Truth obliges me," &:c. Thus on quit- ting the Capital of Upper Canada, the party found, "close, choky woods; the horrible coi'duroy roads again made their appear- ance in a more formidable shape, by the addition of deep, inky holes, which almost swallowed up the fore-wheels of thevvagon, and bathed its hinder axle tree. The jogging and plunging to which we were now exposed, and the occasional bang wlien the vehicle reached the bottom of one of these abysses, were so new and remarkable in the history of our travels, that we tried to make a i(ood joke of them, and felt rather amused than other- wise on discovering, by actual experiment, what ground might on a pinch, as it is called, be travelled over!" When so much good humour is manifested in Canada — when he is found offering the most nauseous flattery to the people there, to their faces, about the "tone" of their "manners," and the blessings of their condition, — we are led to suspect that the peevishness in the United States, as to chambermaids, &c., is merely used as a convenient pretext for venting ill-natured remarks. We have heard of one. Who, having been praised for bluntness, doth affect A saucy roiigtiness, and constrains tlie garb ■ Quite from his nature. He cannot flatter — he ! An honest mind and plain — he must speak truth An tliey will take it — so — if not — he's plain. These kind of knaves I know, which, in tliis plainness, Harbour more crafty ai\d more corrupter ends. 54 Than twenty silly, ducking observants, That stretch their duties nicely. The part of Captain Hall's book which wears, perhaps, the most disingenuous air, is that relating to Slavery. There is no £opic, as is well knawn, which has furnished so many sarcasms against the United Slates, as the existence of a practice so utter- ly at war with that universal freedom, which their popular in- stitutions are supposed to guaranty. Under the pressure of these reproaches Americans have taken the trouble to trace with great care the his'tory of the rise and progress of this evil, and have established, by the clearest evidence, that it was planted there against ihe earnest remonstrances of the colonists — that it was fixed on us at a period when we formed a component part of the British empire, and that the earliest efforts of the States, so soon as they became independent, were directed to mitigate, and in some of them actually to extirpate it. The infamous traffic was first opened, and pursued, by Sir John Hawkins. So late as the year 1713, England engaged to supply Spainvvith 4800 negroes annually, and it was only by the treaty of Madrid, concluded on the 5th October, 1750, that she yielded ''the right to the en- joyment of the Assiento of negroes, and of the annual ship," during the four unexpired years. We would seem, therefore, sufficiently secured against any sarcasm from that quarter. That Captain Hall was aware of all this, and had found our defence one which it was easier to evade than to answer, may be in- ferred from the following remark with which he prefaces the discussion. *' The Americans are perpetually twitting England with having entailed slavery upon their country. The charge in- deed may be true, and there is no denying that it was every way disgraceful in the British Ministry of former times to thioart the wishes of the colonists, if, indeed, they sincerely de- sired to avoid the incipient evil which has fallen so heavily upon their descendants." He assumes a philosophical air as the best reply. " This scornful bandying of national recriminations, however, is, to say the least of it, very unphilosophical — in fact, worse than useless, as it tends to irritate two countries who have no cause of quarrel." Speaking of the anxious effisrts every where made to render the condition of this class of beings more tolerable, he says, " It is useless, then, for foreigners to hold the language of reproach or of appeal to America, thereby imply- ing a belief in the existence of such legislative power. It is mischievous to suppose that such interference can be of use, be- cause this vain belief turns men's thoughts from those genuine meliorations, which are possible, into channels where philan- thropy as well as patriotism either run completely to waste or tend," &c. That a sudden emancipation is impossible, he concedes. It cannot be expected that men, " who like their fathers before them, have derived their whole substance from this source, and who look to it. as a provision for their descendants," can be ex- pected at once to surrender their property. Were the British West Fndies to become independent, and to adopt a form of Government, having especial reference to popular rights, they could only say, as we do, that it was an evil belonging to other days, from all the effects of which it is impossible now to escape- Yet, with this air of candour. Captain Hall takes care that his book shall not want the piquancy so acceptable to the palate of those who cherish the " unkind feelings," which he attributes to this country. No work on America has furnished to malig- nity, so many delightful, choice paragraphs as these very Tra- vels. He well knows that, in the temper which he describes, there are many who take up every such book, with a view to score deeply, for extract, just so much as will serve to gratify the vitiated appetites for which they daily cater. We have, therefore, a great deal about " inconsistency with the principles so much cried up in that republic.^' He gives a long account of the sale of a Slave at Washington, and throws in with dra- matic effect, " The flags were just hoisted on the top of the building, which intimate that the Senate, and the House of Re- presentatives had assembled, to discuss the affairs of this free nation — Slavery amongst the rest." He tells us, that during the sale he exclaimed, " with more asperity than good breeding, thank God! we don^t do such things in my country. ^^ If ashamed of this out break of vulgarity, why put it into his book to minister to the self-complacency of the one side, and the mor- tification of the other? Captain Hall declines to argue the ques- tion, whether the parent country did not fasten on us this evi! in spite of our remonstrances; he deprecates an allusion to her supplying Spain with negroes, under the accursed Assiento con- tract. Surely, then, it is worse than pharasaical, for Great Bri- tain, to stand afar off and thank God, that she is not like Ame- rica, in this particular. May we not be reminded of the tri- umph of a mother, who, having administered poison to her infant child, blesses herself, in after life, that she is not racked by the lingering pains it has left behind, and who mocks at the occasional convulsive twitch of her offspring's muscles? He works up, very happ;iy, what lie saw at New Orleans. It may be readily conceived that one of the arguments urged in ex- tenuation of Slavery, is the impossibility, in some of the States, of employing any other description of labour. Thus Louisiana, as Captain Hall remarks, " must be worked by Slaves, or not at all." Hence it was not unnatural to take advantage of any opportunity of transferring them to a climate more congenial to the constitution of the negro, and where this argument might have its full alleviating force. Many gentlemen of Virginia and Maryland, have purchased plantations in Louisiana and Mississippi, and taken their Slaves thither. Captain Hall wit- nessed such a transfer, in a brig at New Orleans from Baltimore, and it gives rise to the following remark: — " Her decks pre- sented a scene which forcibly reminded me of Rio Janeiro. In the one case, however, the Slaves were brought from the savage regions of ,^/rica : in the other, from the very heart of a free country.^' It is curious to look over the English newspapers, and notice with what avidity such passages have been seized .on by those who, like the leech, eagerly fasten where the skilful operator has allured by the slightest puncture. Yet this is the philoso- pher who deprecates "twitting" on such a subject, as it "tends to irritate two countries who have no cause of quarrel!" In the same sneering temper, Captain Hall has remarked, " It is laid down by the Americans, as an admitted maxim, to doubt the solidity of which, never enters into any man's head for an instant, that a rapid increase of population is, to all intents, tantamount to an Increase of national greatness and power, as well as of individual happiness and prosperity. Conse- quently, say they, such increase ought to be forwarded by eve- ry possible means, as the ^greatest blessing to the country." (Vol. i. p. 153.) Captain Hall never heard an American utter such a sentiment, and he is desired to point to any effort thus to force population. If such were the prevalent theory, why not offer our public lands gratuitously to the foreigner, or even add a bounty of sixty pounds sterling to every family agreeing to accept a hundred acres, as has been done in Canada.-* We have again to regret that Captain Hall, instead of offering a mawkish eulogium on Dr. Franklin (the " Socrates of modern times") had not taken the trouble to read the works of that sage and pa- triot. In the Remarks to Emigrants, written in the year 1784, will be found the following expressions: — "Strangers are wel- come, because there is room enough for them all, and, therefore, the old inhabitants are not jealous of them; the laws protect them sufficiently, so that they have no need of the patronage of great men; and every one will enjoy securely the profits of his industry. But if he does not bring a fortune with him, he must work and be industrious to live." The same feeling exists at the present day. We do not con- sider, as Captain Hall pretends, an increase of population to be the " greatest blessing." We hold tiie diffusion of sound mo- rals, of attachment to our institutions, and of education, to be the paramount objects of solicitude. We believe thai those who come amongst us, and find themselves in the midst of a tranquil, industrious, and happy people, where the laws secure to every man the fruits of his industry, and where the opportunity of ex- ercising that industry is readily found, may be expected to fall Ui into those habits which will render them quiet, useful citizens, and to become attached to the institutions which anxiously con- sult their safety and happiness. If the stranger be wealthy, he may select his plan of life, without danger of molestation; if needy, the implements of labour are speedily placed in his hands. Captain Hall visited, on the banks of the Delaware, one of the brothers of Napoleon, the Ex-King; of Spain, and remarks, "I trust I am taking no unwarrantable liberty, by mentioning that he has gained the confidence and esteem, not only of all his neighbours, but of every one in America, who has the honour of his acquaintance — a distinction which he owes partly to the discretion with which he has uniformly avoided all interference with the exciting topics that distract the country of his adoption, and partly to the suavity of his personal address, and the gene- rous hospitality of his princely establishment." Another mem- ber of the same family, but not in the same affluent circum- stances, is endeavouring to make himself useful in Florida, and was recently a candidate for a seat in the council of that territo- ry. If he possess any portion of the talent of his great relative, he may be destined to aid in the formation of its code of laws, when it shall have a sufficient population to become a member of the Union. We have no apprehension of strangers. The stream is too broad, and deep, and strong, to be discoloured or rendered turbid. The idle and the profligate quickly find that America is not their proper home. The mere schemer is soon rebuked by the good sense and steadiness of the people, and abandons them in despair. Captain Hall's deistical or theistical countryman, Mr Owen, he may take back and welcome. We do not think it the " greatest blessing" to have amongst us men like him, who, failing in every thing else, at length make a des- perate snatch at our souls. These blasphemous visionaries are forthwith exposed, and laughed at. As a singular proof of Captain Hall's wish to misrepresent, or of absurd misconception, we may refer to his account of our impatience at being obliged to use the English language. "It is curious enough," he says, " by the way, to see the discom- fort that some scrupulous Americans show to the mere name of our common tongue.'' That any such silly expression of "discomfort" reached his ears, is rather improbable; but we can readily believe that he may have heard from Americans, a speculative suggestion on the subject which he has strangely perverted, and which we will at- tempt to explain. It has, undoubtedly, been sometimes thought a matter of re- gret that there is no language which has grown up, as it were, with the country, and which bears, as we might then hope it would, a peculiar, felicitous, reference to its condition, physical and moral. Without going beyond objects of the former cha- a racter, it must be remembered that we brought with us a lan- guage adapted to a state of things essentially different from that which America presents. Take for example the word " Lake." Drawing our ideas from England, and from English poetry, we attach to it the notion of an appendage to pleasure-grounds. We think of Goldsmith's line — " Space for liis Lake, his park's extended bounds." and it is not until an American finds himself on one of our vast internal seas, which bear the same name, that he feels the abject poverty of the epithet. He has read and thought of American nature through the medium of a translation. The word is so far from suggesting the object, that he has to disengage himself from its influence, before its conception can adequately expand. He has measured by square inches, what must be measured by square miles. So of the word " Falls," which is equally ap- plied to those of Niagara — to those of the Clyde — and to those of Montmorency, which Captain Hall declares, with some as- perity, to be "truly contemptible." He saw one of the cre- vasses or breaches in the bank of the Mississippi. "There was something peculiarly striking in this casual stream — a mere drop from the Great Mississippi, whirh in many other countries might almost have claimed the name of a river" Yet we have no word to distinguish this river from the Cam or the Isis. When Sir William Jones went to India, he did not think of looking for the Poetry of that region amongst the English re- sidents at Calcutta or Bombay. His remarks, perhaps, will il- lustrate what is meant: *' If we allow the natural objects with which the Arabs are perpetually conversant to be sublime and beautiful, our next step must be to confess, that their comparisons, metaphors, and allegories are so likewise, for an allegory is a string of meta- phors, a metaphor is a short simile, and the finest similes are drawn from natural objects." (Essay on the Poetry of the East- ern Nations.) "These comparisons, many of which, would seem forced in our idioms, have undoubtedly a great delicacy in theirs." (lb.) " // is not sufficient that a nation have a ge- nius for poetry, unless they have the advantage of a rich and beautiful language, that their expressions may be worthy of their sentiments; the Arabians have this advantage also, in a high de- gree; their language is expressive, strong, sonorous, and the most copious, perhaps, in the world; for, as almost every tribe had many words appropriate to itself, the poets, for the con- venience of their measures, or sometimes for their singular beauty, made use of them all, and as the poems became popu- lar, these words were by degrees incorporated with the whole languageP { lb.) " We are apt to censure the oriental style, for being so full of metaphors, taken from the sun and moon; 59 this is ascribed by some to the bad taste of the Asiatics; but they do not reflect, that every nation has a set of iinnges^ and expressions peculiar to itself, which arise from the difference of its climate, manners, and history." (lb.) It is idle for foreigners to ask, good-naturedly, why we do not naturalize such Indian words, as seem most capable of civiliza- tion. Even supposing a vocabulary to have existed, and to be preserved, sufficiently copious, yet it is evident that, in order to be at all effective in composition, the language employed must promptly awaken ideas previously existing in the mind. A French poet would be laughed at, were he to introduce the %vords "comfort," '^ home," &c., and inform his readers, in a note, that Englishmen attach a peculiar and untranslatable mean- ing to them. People read to be pleasurably excited, and not to be told that the language used — whether Greek, or Latin, or Iro- quois — ought to make a vivid impression. Such is the invin- cible difficulty on the subject, that even the words, *' Ohio," *' Mississippi," &c,, do not recall to us the happily descriptive meaning, which they are said to convey in the original. No language but their native one, can with the mass of readers com- mand that rapid and unbroken interest, on which the success of every work of the imagination so essentially depends. Science, Philosophy, Law, Medicine, are of all tongues. New- ton's Principia, or Bacon's Novum Organum, may be read quite as well in Latin as in English, and, indeed, some of the most precious treasures of English thought are to be found in the for- mer. It is to Poetry that each language points for the trophies of its power. Now that of America does not, as Sir William Jones expresses it, " arise" from the characteristics of the coun- try, and when complaint is made of the absence of any thing peculiar— distinctive — in our Literature, why may we not be, good-naturedly, suffered to suggest that we employ a medium of thought, and of description, appropriated, irrevocably and jealousl}'^, in the reader's memory to the chef-iTceuvres of the English muse? He has a vague expectation of finding some- thing entirely new, wild, and startling in an American book, and is quite disappointed when he can trace the influence of the great masters of the common language. Our authors arc very much in the predicament of the preacher, one of whose perverse auditors used to exclaim " that's Tillotson," " that 's Blair," when any part of the discourse brought to his mind a passage in either of those great divines. Should brother Jonathan get vexed, and say something petulant, he is sure to be told, as in the finale of the story referred to, " that's your own." Surely there is nothing very arrogant or offensive in these re- veries, in which many Americans have, undoubtedly, indulged. They do not apply exclusively, it is obvious, to the English lan- guage. Yet Captain Hall contrives to discover in them an ab- 00 surd and rancorous antipathy to the **very name" of our mo- ther tongue. He found the Americans very taciturn — rather a novel charge against them, for every body has heard of Dr. Franklin's story as to the necessity of prefacing an inquiry as to the road, by an account of yourself and your business. Mr. De Roos remarks on those whom he met in the public conveyances — <' Their thirst for information might be construed, by a person disposed to criticize, into an inquisitiveness bordering upon imperti- nence." Captain Hall, too, found his fellow-travellers obliging and communicative — they often turn out "very intelligent per- sons, who gave us much information that was quite new," &c. At Stockbridge, he says, it was " my pleasure as well as my business to get acquainted with as many of the inhabitants as I could. This was an easy task, as they were universally as kind and obliging as I had found their countrymen elsewhere." He declares, to be sure, uith a sneer, as to these same peo- ple, that he found none of that " high-mindedness" which had been '* rung in his ears," but as he has omitted to inform us how he expected this quality to be manifested we can give his re- mark no definite answer. The circumstance from which he in- fers a taciturn disposition is, that people, at the common table of the hotels, despatched their meals very hastily, and seemed not inclined to enter into *' chat" with each other. If Captain Hall ever travelled in England in a stage coach, or a steam-boat, or a packet, let him recollect whether he found his companions disposed to fall promptly, into easy conversation. Even at the first baiting place did he discover a communicative temper whilst awaiting the summons to return to the coach? Now the busy people whom he saw at these tables, meet each other under pre- cisely the same circumstances, except that they have not previ- ously been shut up in a coach together, and are not to resume their places at the conclusion of the meal. We venture to say, if Captain Hall were travelling from Edinburgh to London, and whilst snatching his hasty breakfast, some inquisitive American were to try to " draw him out " — to request him to talk, and laugh, and exhibit himself — that a very brief, and not a very good-humoured, reply would be given. In England, instead of meeting at a common table, each individual has his i^partment or his box in the coffee-house. Take down the partitions, or throw open the folding doors, and there would not be a whit more sociability amongst the parties. At the hotel in New York, "those persons who chose to incur the additional expense of a private parlour, might have their meals separately." He chose to go to the common breakfast table, in order to "get ac- quainted with some of the natives," but "our familiar designs" were frustrated by the silence of the company. Again, at Cat- skill, he was present at a militia training, and " the light com- 6i pany of one of the regiments " being dismissed to take some refreshment, he "joined the party, in hopes of being able to get some chat with their citizen soldiers — but one and all, officers and men, snatched up their dinner in such a hurry, that in less than fifteen minutes I found myself with only one person in the room. This gentleman, perceiving me to be a stranger, and I suppose looking rather adrift, I am sure I felt so, introduced himself to me, and was afterwards very kind and useful in show- ing me the place, and in explaining many things which 1 could make nothing of alone." From such data Captain Hall has drawn his conclusion! It is curious enough, that, long before seeing his book, we had been led to seek for some reason to account for what seemed to us the greater degree of reserve in England than in the United States, amongst those who are casually thrown together. We had, very innocently, set it down to the circumstance, that in the former country, the distinctions of rank are well defined, and are often most jealously maintained, where a danger is ap- prehended from proximity of running the lines into each other. This causes a mutual disinclination to make the first advance — in most cases, it is presumed, less from pride than from a shy apprehension of encountering coldness, or an actual repulse. As to the state of Manners in the United States, the tourist- has confined himself to certain dark, and seemingly very omi- nous, hints, to which it is, of course, quite impossible to ofier any reply. All argument upon such a subject is necessarily idle, since it must rest on assertion, and a character for refine- ment is not to be established by clamorous pretensions to it. So far as he has furnished a glimpse at facts, they seem to indicate the general diffiision of a spirit of gentleness — of kindness — of a wish to oblige. In all the various modes of public convey- ance, he was particularly struck with the absence of any stiff, brutal selfishness, and with the " anxiety to accommodate the ladies by changing places, or making any arrangements that were possible." This is not a trivial circumstance, when it is so uni- versal and remarkable, as to be deemed, by a foreigner, charac- teristic. People may be profusely hospitable from vanity, or from a mere love of company, but a quiet cheerful waiver of personal convenience is a very different matter. Following Captain Hall amongst another description of persons — into the social circles which were opened to him — he has, without in- tending so to do, paid a compliment, the value of which will not fail to be appreciated, by all those who are truly well-bred. We never saw or heard of the American Chesterfield, which is no- ticed in these volumes, but we well remember, that, in the ori- ginal work, his lordship lays it down, as the fundamental maxim of good-breeding, that there is no mediutn between perfect po- liteness and a duel. Now, while Captain Hall represents him- 62 self as perpetually traversing the intermediate space, vibrating between the two points, uttering rude remarks, some of which are given whilst others are suppressed, as too gross for the press; he admits, that he never saw a citizen of the republic show by word, tone, or expression of countenance, towards either sex, that he had lost that self-possession which is, every where, the great and indispensable characteristic of a Gentleman. So far, therefore, Captain Hall has established the decided superiority of the American over himself, and over any society of which he may be considered the representative. There is an air of extreme puerility, of which he will himself be ashamed " on cool reflection," in the introduction of extracts from this alleged American volume. If the existence of a book reprobating certain vulgar practices, be deemed sufficient proof of their general prevalence, amongst persons having claims to respectability, then America might draw the same inference as to England, from the publication of the original work; and even the Decalogue or Whole Duty of Man, be deemed evidence of universal depravity. In every nobleman's library in the king- dom, will be found his Lordship's Letters, anxiously depre- cating practices infinitely more revolting than any which the American writer has subjected to his criticism. It would be very rash, however, to conclude that every Englishman " eats with his knife, to the great danger of his mouth, picks his teeth with his fork, and puts his spoon, which has been in his throat twenty times, into the dishes again," or that he, " has strange tricks and gestures, such as snuffing up the nose, making faces, putting his fingers in his nose, or blowing it, and looking after- wards in his handkerchief, so as to make the company sick." Yet, Captain Hall has led us to believe, that the "American Chesterfield," is graphically descriptive of the state of manners in the United States. Not to speak of New York, which is the especial object of his eulogium, does he mean to say, that he was annoyed by such practices at Boston, "with whose manners, appearance, and style altogether, we were much taken," or in " the agreeable society of Philadelphia," or the " agreeable and intelligent society of Baltimore?" The reader must infer that he was, for after asserting the " too great fidelity " of the stric- tures, he strengthens the impression which he desires to make as to their general applicability, by excepting indecorum in the Churches and Courts of Justice. We might, perhaps, render the unfairness of this conduct more obvious, by referring to a recent number of a periodical work, conducted under distinguished auspices. In the New Monthly Magazine, will be found a series of papers of which the purpose is to ridicule the prevailing vices of behaviour; and the necessity for the writer's labours was suggested to him, he says, by what actually fell under his own observation. It can- 63 not be supposed that this poignant irony would have found a place, but from the hope of the illustrious Editor, that the nu- merous and fashionable patrons of the Miscellany might be be- nefited by it. The following are amongst the maxims. 48. If you meet a female in the street, never give her the in- side, unless it be her right. 58. Re orthodox in politics as well as in religion. Tell an American that republics must end in monarchy, and their ca- reer be short. Tell the Russians, they are rogues and savages for making war upon the gentle Turks, because you sell them goods, and it spoils your traffic. 61 If you enter a drawing-room before dinner, a little time too early, and find yourself vis a-vis, with an unlucky visiter as forlorn as yourself, do not utter a word. The chances are, nine out of ten, he will not speak first, that is, if he be a true Briton. Stare at him as hard as you can. 62. If you meet a lady in society, old or young, married or single, who equiils you in argument, or rises superior to the thousand and one automatons disgorged monthly from fashiona- ble boarding-schools, report her a bas bleu to your male ac- quaintances, and warn her own sex to shun her. 80. When you dine at a public dinner, always take your seat opposite a favourite dish. Carve it yourself, and select the choicest bits, then leave it to your right hand neighbour to help the rest of the company. 86. Always stick your napkin in your button-hole at the din- ner-table, if you admit such French superfluities at all. Eat with the sharp edge of your knife towards your mouth; forks won't take up gravy. 89. When seated at dinner, between two agreeable ladies, di- rect your conversation solely to the gentleman opposite you, at the other side of the table. 99. Always be positive when you have a lurking conscious- ness of being wrong; it will give you the reputation of firm- ness. 100. Never leave a dispute to be settled by arbitration; if you are rich always appeal to law, especially if your opponent be poor. The lawyers will manage for you long before the case gets up to the Lords, and perhaps secure your rival in banco- regis for expenses. In an arbitration, the case may be decided against you in a twink'ing. It is a capital thing that justice and a long purse are sworn brothers; besides monied men should have some advantage in society 163. If you cannot get left out from the list of jurymen under Mr. Peel's late Act, by a bribe to the officer, who makes up the papers, and you nre obliged to sit, always do as the Judge tells you, especially in cases of libel. 165. Though you do not care about religion yourself, it is fit- 64 ting to have a decent external zeal for it, and not to allow others to attack it. Imitate a learned Judge, who, upon a man being tried before him for blasphemy, and, in defence, abusing the clergy, exclaimed to a friend sitting on the bench with him- *' I 'li be d — d if I will sit and hear the Christian Religion re- viled in this manner." 178. When your daughters can translate "Comment vous portez vous," and interlard their conversation after the mode of governesses, vvith interjections in that tongue — when they can sing the words of an Italian song, the meaning of which they do not comprehend, and strum a tune out of time, it is a • ertain proof of a fashionable education, and that they are ripe for so- ciety; proclaim them adepts in tasteful acquirements, and cut all who will not implicitly credit your lie. 182. If you ride on a coach in rain, manage to drain your umbrella in your neighbour's neck, it may be agreeable to him. If you ride down Bond Street on a muddy day, ride smartly, close to the pavement, that you may bemire the passengers. If you can find a vacant place in front of a short person in the Opera Pit, more especially if that person be a female, take it immediately; you do not obstruct the hearing. If you hold the newspaper in a coffee-house, keep it until you have spelled all the advertisements twice over, because another is waiting to look at it. Order your carriage to halt at every place where there is a swept crossing for the benefit of foot passengers. Tell every tradesman whose shop you enter that his goods are bad, his prices an imposition, and you will buy nothing, though he has been two hours trying to satisfy your caprice. Make your coachman drive hard, and if he drives over a child or old wo- man, charge him with carelessness, and acting against orders. If you wear an umbrella-bonnet at a public meeting or exhibi- tion, don't take it off, that the person behind you may see too. In short, never mind annoying others, if you can keep free of annoyance yourself. Captain Hall will doubtless think it the result of American prejudice, when we smile at the idea of his becoming a critic on manners. There is something about him too sharp, angular, and brusque — a hasty, rapid sort of disregard of the feelings and opinions of others. Would he act in London as he repre- sents himself to have done in the United States, elevating his voice, and heating himself up into offensive remarks, while all around, according to his own showing, maintained the most per- fect composure? If not, here is the most decisive proof of vul- garity; for no gentleman approaches any society with less of self- command than he does, what he deems the very highest. Other- wise, the decorum preserved is the result, not of principle, but of awe. It springs not from a constant sense of what is due to one-self, but from a calculation that it is not politic or safe to 65 . indulge native petulance.* He had no more right to be rude to an American lady than to the King. In his speech, at Brock- ville in Upper Canada, (vol, i. p. 368,) he says, " For example, if I were to take it into my head, like Tom Thumb, to swear I would be a rebel, and decline his Majesty's farther employ- ment, I don't conceive the King would be quite so ill off, as I should be, were his majesty, on the other hand, to signify that he had no farther occasion for my services." It is very true that an American lady had no power of dis- missing him from the service, yet it was not the less unjusti- fiable to put on towards her " an expression of countenance" at which she " took fire," on account of a remark as to the dexterity and intelligence of American stage drivers, and the docility of their horses, and this too, when she seems merely to have echoed his own language. These circumstances, will undoubtedly, make a very unfavourable impression in the Uni- ted States, amongst those who looked on with amazement at this sort of exhibition, and were reminded of the scene at the clachan of Aberfoil, when the young English gentleman, Frances Osbaldistone, was so much astonished at seeing the Highlanders "snorting and snuffing up the air, after the man- ner of their countrymen when working themselves into a pas- sion." It will require all their recollection of Sir Charles Bagot, and of his amiable successor, Mr. Vaughan, not to frame a general hypothesis that the idea conveyed by the word " chivalry," is as different in the two countries, as Captain Hall supposes its pronunciation to be. It is curious how mei'e trifles illustrate the temper and cha- racter. Take for example, the altercation with the schoolmis- tress at New York. We all remember the story of the visit of the late king to one of the public schools in England, when the pedagogue accompanied him through the different classes, preserving a most magisterial air — perhaps wearing his hat — but at the door, dropped his voice into an earnest entreaty to be forgiven — '' for if these boys thought there was a greater man than myself in the kingdom, I could never manage them." The king good humouredly laughed, and assented to the pro- bable justice of the remark. But our Captain, not only beards the good schoolmistress" about his eternal "chivalry,"! but * The sort of undei-bread, confident, air of assurance referred to, pei'vades tlie volumes. It is difficult to give examples of what consists rather in a general flippancy prompting to expressions such as that at Boston, whither many letters of introduction were taken, " So we merely wrote our address upon each letter, sent out tke whole batch (doubtless through the Post Office, for he travelled without a servant) and sat still to watch the result." f There is a very suspicious air of preparation, it may be remarked, about the whole of this scene. Captain Hall calls for the reading of a particular poem; uses afterwards a contemptuous "tone" that wounds the feelings of the " good schoolmistress," and induces her to ask an explanation which enables him to vent 9 . 66 chuckles at the mutiny he had raised, ^' I shrugged my shoul- ders, and said no more of course, but was much amused af- terwards, by observing; that when one of the girls in the class in question, a little sprightly, wicked-looking, red-haired las- sie, came in turn to read the Poem, she gave to both the words their true interdicted pronunciation. She herself did not dare to look up, while guilty of this piece of insubordination; but I could see each of the other girls peeping archly out of the corners of their eyes in the direction of the mistress, antici- pating probably, a double dose of good counsel afterwards for their pains." Every one but Captain Hall feels that this is very silly and vulgar. Indeed, throughout these volumes, there is* an unpleasant feeling, that vv^e travel with a man who would, in real life, make a very disagreeable companion. He cares not "a fig" (to use his own term at Brockyille) for any body, he is opi- his criticism; and then in his hurried and confident asseveration that Walker's Dictionary " Would bear ii.ii! out," we plainly see a man who had made sure of his ti-iumph, and was determined not to be balked. He had played into the hands of his morning's studies. That he js not very deep in the Dictionaries be- comes apparent when he is caught at an impromptu. Thus he remarks, " The word for Autumn, in that country, is Fall, aterm happily expressive of tlie fate of the leaves, and ivorthy, perhaps, of poetical, if not vulgar, adoption." Now, on turning to Johnson, he will find the 13th meaning of Fall to be autumn; the fall of the leaf, the lime when the leaves drop from tlie trees," with an illustration from Dryden, which shows that the word was a common and familiar mode of designating one of the seasons of the year (" last fall.") He speaks of the ex- pression to " subdue" the earth as a local one, yet, w^ithout I'eferringto the mo- dern poets he may find quoted by Johnson — " Be fruitful and replenish the earth and subdue it " Nor is it unwholesome to subdue the land By often exercise, and where before You broke the eai'th again to plow." He is surprised that what he considered a jug," should be called a "pitcher," whereas the New York Chambermaid, was right, for "jug" has reference to a gibbous form, carried fai-ther than is found in the persons or earthen vessels of tlie Americans. Doubtless the poor girl could have exclaimed with Dryden— " H3'las may drop his pitcher — none will cry; Not if he drown himself." But to return to Captain Hall and the schoolmistress. The suspicion of foul ]-)lay is mvich confirmed by what occurs in another volume. At New Haven, he fell in with Noah Webster, the author of the Diction;uy, and straightway thej' are found harping on this same " chivalry." True, the toiu-ist modestly veils his own share of the philological discussion, by saying generally, that he asked the lexicogTapher " what he proposed to do with those words which were gene- i-ally pronounced differently in the two countries." But it is impossible not to see that ttie very word which forthwith makes its appearance was of the Captain's sug- gestion. We can almost hear our kind-hearted old gentleman exclaim, " Good Heavens! — Is it possible that you, a naval officer, and a man of the world, can have had time to dive tlius into Dictionaries?" tlie whole affair irresistibly re- minds us of the man in the Vicar of Wakefield, with his single scrap of learning about cosmogony; and at New Haven it is difficult to avoid saj-ing aloud, with the good Vicar, " I beg pardon for interrupting so much learning, but I think I have heard this before. Pray is not your name Ej>hrjum Jenkinson. " 67 nionative, conceited, eloquent. Then, I warrant, such a fuss about his place, and his baggage, and eternal jars with the chambermaids, one passage in reference to this last matter has been already cited; but there is another so characteristic that it must not be omitted. It occurs at page 142 of his first volume. He is far away in the western part of the State of New York. <' One day,'^ this is evermore the prologue to his tales of distress,) " One day, I was rather late for breakfast, and as there was no water in my jug, or pitcher, as they call it, I set off post haste, half- shaved, half-dressed, and more than half-vexed, (i. e. in a great passion,) in quest of water, like a seaman on short allowance, hunting for rivulets, on some unknown coast. I went up stairs and down stairs, and in the course of my researches into half-a-dozen different apartments, might have stumbled on some lady'' s chamber, as the song says, which considering the plight I IV as in, would have been awkward enough." Now, on behalf of that very respectable class of females, the cham- bermaids of the western part of the State of New York, we have a word to say. From the antecedent description it would seem that the girl here aimed at, though not named, performed the duties of what is called "a maid of all work." Then it is evident, that Captain Hall was himself to blame, for lying in bed until she was called off to wait upon the breakfast table. That he is rather indolent and aristocratic in his habits, he has obligingly informed us. Thus on a subsequent occasion, he says, with a pleasant wit, "there is certainly more satisfac- tion in taking one's morning nap before setting out, than in rising with the stupid cocks, who have nothing else to do but crow," and adds, " We lay snoozing very snugly, to our good landlady's infinite surprise." But to return to the defence of the New York chambermaid. . Captain Hall says, he was *' /jtf //"-shaved. " How was this.'' without water? Scarcely. Why did he commence? Above all, why go over the house, in a condition to offend any female he might meet? Why not put on his clothes? But for his own comparative sluggishness. Cap- tain Hall ivoiild probably have found in these chambers, ladies, he knew not, and he cared not whom. The English gentle- man will scarcely believe without referring to the volume, that we are serious, in stating, that this disgusting trash is to be found in it. The truth, as usual, is to be gathered from attending to the context. The maid referred to, was probably such a one as he describes, at page 121 of the same volume, " a pretty young woman apparently the daughter of the master of the house." At the next page but one, and whilst in the same region of country, he says, "By the way of Ice; this great luxury we found every where in profusion, even in the cottages; and an 60 ice-pit near the house, appears to be a matter of course. The 7nischief is, that one is tempted, in consequence, to drink too much water, and this to a stranger, entering a limestone country, is not a harmless indulgence by any means.'^ Thus, then, the whole matter is explained. The poor girl put in his room, over night, as much of the liquid as she had found suf- ficient for any former traveller; but the Captain, allured by its coolness, guzzles away all night at the limestone water, and no wonder he was not ready, betimes, for his breakfast. This ex- planation, is due to a young woman who has been slandered behind her back, in a strange country. Did Captain Hall sup- pose, that this " pretty young wom.an, apparently the daughter of the master of the house," was to jog him by the shoulder *' Do you want more water?" Would it have been decent or becoming on her part! Nay, the girl was perfectly right, in even keeping out of the way of this thirsty soul, when, accord- ing to his own showing, his appearance would have shocked a modest female. Here, then, we find a gentleman, going about the rooms of a house, expecting every moment to meet females, and conscious that his person was indecently exposed. Yet this refined personage is perpetually hinting, that he has some ominous disclosures to make, about what he saw in America. "I might easily describe in what the difference consists, be- tween American and European manners. But there is always, I think, more or less, a breach of confidence in such descrip- tions, however generally, or however delicately expressed." We confess, that the delicacy of this course of conduct is quite lost on us. Surely it would be both more useful, and more respectful to speak out plainly, so as to give us a chance of reformation, than to indulge in general contemptuous hints which operate abroad much more successfully in the way of disparagement, while to ourselves they are more galling. He tells us, in another, place, that " the rules of behaviour are not yet settled." As he has thus wrapt up himself in mystery, it is necessary to grope after the truth as well as we can, and as- suming Captain Hall himself to.be the representative of what he calls European manners, to glean from his book, what he pro- bably deems the disadvantageous points of comparison. Thus, for example, we have already seen that the leading distinction between his own manner, and that of the Americans, is found in their habitual courtesy, gentleness, and self-possession. So much for the drawing-room, and the dinner-table. As to their deportment in country inns, he will certainly find few Ameri- can gentlemen disposed to be his imitators. It is not their way to run about a house, half-naked, into the sleeping apartments of females, on the flimsy pretence of looking for iced water. In their simple code this would be held altogether ungenteel. It seems that the gentlemen in Canada, carry this indecent 69 exposure of the person to an extent, which it would be minc- ing matters to call merely barefaced. We are indebted to Cap- tain Hall for the following anecdote. (Vol. i. p. 246.) " At this critical stage of our progress, when, I suspect, we only wanted a good excuse for turning back, but were deterred from saying so by the mere fact of its being hazardous to advance, we observed a portly-looking horseman approaching us from the marsh. In reply to our interrogatories, as to the state of the roads farther on, he shook his head, and assured us, they were much worse than any we had yet seen. ' The truth is,' added he, chuckling at his own prowess, ' I had myself some considerable distance to ride, through a place where it was so deep that the water came far above my knees.' On hearing this assertion, our eyes naturally glanced, incredu- lously, to his netber garments, which were perfectly sleek, clean and dry. '0!' cried he, guessing our thoughts, and smacking his thigh with his band, ' I was obliged to take off these articles (naming them,) and by ha7iging them, over my shoulders I did very well, as you perceive.' " Captain Hall seems to have struck up an intimacy at once with this gentle- man, whom he familiarly designates afterwards, (p. 247,) as *'our fat friend," the well known phrase of Brummel. A lit- tle further on (p. 265,) he is led into the remark, " In every part of Canada we found the inhabitants speaking English, and acting and looking like Englishmen, without any discernible difference. At the other extremity of the continent Jje was equally taken with the Creek Indians. He regrets (vol. iii. p. 296) not having executed sketches of them with the Came- ra Lucida, " but until it was all over this never once occurred to me, and thus I let slip the only opportunity which the whole journey, I may say, my whole life presented, of drawing these interesting savages in a leisurely way." Their dress was that of the naked Pict, having nothing about the body, but " a small, square, dark coloured cloth, about one quarter as big as a pocket handkerchief, tied by a slender cord round the middle." But enough of this. We have not the slightest fear that Captain Hall's evil example in the State of New York will have any effect on the sober decencies of the inhabitants of that moral Commonwealth, nor will they ever believe that the people in the mother country are arrayed, as Captain Hall would lead them to infer, altogether after the fashion of our Jirst parents in the old family Bibles. One complaint is preferred against the society of the United States, of rather a singular character. He says, " Positively I never once, during the whole period I was in that country, saw any thing approaching within many degrees to what we should call a Flirtation.'^ It scarce befits our gravity to enter on a vindication of the young people from such a charge, and we 10 must refer him to what has been said by one of his brother officers, the Hon. Mr. De Roos. " In American society, there is far less formality and restraint, than is found in that of Europe; but I must observe, that, not- withstanding the freedom of intercourse which is allowed, the strictest propriety prevails, both in conversation and demea- nour." "I had an opportunity of witnessing an instance of the cordial and unreserved communication which exists," &c. *' The manners of the women are so easy and natural," &c. The difference between the two witnesses is, probably, ex- plained by the circumstance, that one, from his birth, has had access to the society of a Metropolis, whilst Captain Hall tells us that he has " been all his life at sea, or knocking about," &c, (vol. iii. p. 431.) One whose existence has thus been spent, either on board a man-of-war, or in "knocking," or being knocked " about," cannot have spent much tim.e, we would fain hope, with the softer sex. Of course he has had his frolicks like other young men, but they have been at Sheer- ness or Spithead, and as these places live on the seafaring classes, it is probably no difficult matter for a brisk young fel- low to get introduced, and to find, even in reputable families, young people well inclined to a fine game at romps. In Ree's Cyclopasdia, under the head Portland, we find an account of what is called, in that part of England, " Portland custom," which must afford rare sport to the young middies; and it accounts, by the way, for a similar practice said to prevail in some parts of the backwoods of America, having, doubtless, been carried thither by some emigrants from this very quarter. To one dwelling on such free and easy reminiscences, it is quite natural that there should appear, in the United States, " the most respectful and icy propriety upon all occasions, when young people of different sexes were brought together, (vol. iii. p. 150.) It seems that this Flirtation is "a sedulous and exclusive attention paid to one person above all others." It is not " attachment," but it " borders closely upon it:" " it is an incipient interest sometimes felt by one, sometimes shared by both." It " may be fanned into a flame, or be allowed to ex- pire," &c. The Captain cautions us, that " the, practice of ex- pressing such emotions, and many others of a sim,ilar charac- ter should be habitual, and not contingent." Truly, at the present day, in England, even in the seaports, one of these in- sinuating Billy Taylors, thus in the habit of " discovering his mind," would be very apt to find himself laid by the heels, be- fore a court and jury. It is held that a promise of marriage may be inferred from circumstances, and it would stand the cul- prit in little stead, we suspect, to declare it was only a way he had. To be serious, if Captain Hall never enjoyed an oppor- tunity of mixing much with people of refinement, yet a little 71 reflection might have taught him that it isthe peculiar office of good breeding to discountenance this sort of " sedulous and exclusive" attention — this hanging about a young lady, and en- grossing her attention, instead of suffering her to feel that each member of the company has an equal claim on the contribution which she can offer to society. This pairing off in corners — these half courtships — render the country-gathering so import- ant an event to sly daughters, and match-making mothers; but we suspect that such an exhibition would be deemed quite as vulgar in London as in New York. By way of illustration, we may suggest, that had he witnessed any such scene, he would probably have deemed it intrusive and unkind, to solicit an in- troduction to the young lady — perhaps the most interesting per- son in the room, — thinking that, according to the sailor phrase, ''three spoils company." The ingenuity of the Captain in framing an hypothesis is re- markably manifested at Stockbridge. He attended a cattle- show at that place, but the day was a most unfavourable one, *' all was discomfort, and it made one feel cold and damp even to look from the ivindoiv at the drenched multitude." He adds, *'it was truly melancholy to see the poor people's best clothes, and other finery destroyed, and all their amusements marred. The gay flags, instead of waiving over the heads of the lads and lasses of the neighbourhood, hung dripping down to the very mud," &c. "Shortly after the ploughing match was ended, the day cleared up, and I expected to see some of that merriment set a going which I had been taught to consider as the appropriate, and almost necessary accompaniment to such a meeting. In particular, I hoped to see the women tripping out,^^ &c. So far from this being the case, "the wom.en trudged home." After a hasty dinner, to which they sat down at one o'clock, they proceeded to the church to hear an oration, and he describes minutely, the process employed to secure him a " good seat. It was obvious, from a hundred things, that they wished to treat strangers with all distinction." The females had previously been provided with places in the Church. From these simple facts. Captain Hall draws two inferences: — 1st. That there is a sombre gloomy temper in the country; an indis- position to merriment; the people won't laugh; " they appear wofully ignorant of the difficult art of being gracefully idle." 2nd. That the women are sedulously set apart from the men on all public occasions. " At Stockbridge, it is true, a considera- rable number of women were present at the oration, but they were carefully placed on one side of the Church." Now we humbly conceive that the facts stated by Captain Hall furnish us with the true explanation of both the circum- stances which appeared so inexplicable; and he knows the fun- damental rule of philosophy, that no more causes are to be sought 72 for than will sufficiently explain the phenomena. With regard to the first, it strikes us, that as the poor women had had all their finery " destroyed" and themselves draggle-tailed in the mud, while Captain Hall was gazing from the window, it was quite a sufficient reason why they should make their way home in order to dry themselves, particularly as they had to take their places, at one o'clock, to hear the oration. 2nd. As to the arrangement at the church, there seems to be an equally ob- vious explanation. If precautions were necessary to secure places for strangers, it is quite natural that some arrangement should be made to provide for the convenience of the ladies. Indeed Captain Hall tells us, " It is a rule we saw universal- ly observed in America, never to think how the men shall fare till every female has been fully accommodated." They were temporarily separated from the men, on the same principle that they occupy the front seats at the Theatre. Such seems to be the simple explanation of the mystery. Instead of being ad- mitted by tickets, given indiscriminately, a passage into the Church, previous to the ceremonies, was allowed only to la- dies; and to prevent their being pressed upon or incommoded, a particular part of the building was assigned to them. At another cattle-show Address, no ladies were present, yet he declares it was one " which the most delicate minded per- son on earth might have listened to." He had just before re- marked, that " the numerous pens where the bullocks and sheep were enclosed, afforded a high treat from the variety of the breeds, and the high condition of the animals exposed." His own language, negativing any indelicacy in the topics dis- cussed, suggests the obvious possibility of the introduction, amongst these plain country people, of practical details illustra- tive of the good breeding of the cattle rather than of the orator; and it would seem quite as well, therefore, for ladies to keep away. It happens, that, just at this moment, we are less in the humour to quarrel with this fastidiousness, from having wit- nessed the pitiable distress of the very modest and learned gen- tleman who conducted the late inquiry into the case of Davies, an alleged lunatic. The following paragraph from the Times, of December 22, adverts to what fell under our observation. "The ladies present, to whom it had been several times inti- mated that they had better withdraw, persisted in keeping their places. The Commissioners at last observed, that as all hints were lost upon the ladies, it would not be necessary to consult their feelings any farther." We certainly prefer to this effron- tery even the shyness of the Massachusetts females. It is curious to note the trivial circumstances on which the fate of nations, as well as of individuals, often depends. At the cattle-show, Captain Hall was lounging about, '' when sudden- ly the sound of a fiddle struck upon my ear," (vol. ii. p. 152,) 73 iie ^^ ran eagerly to the spot," (ib. ) but found no women there, and he makes up his mind that, with us, females do not, as mothers, wives, and sisters, enjoy, in the depths of domestic privacy, that salutary influence which they possess " in more fortunately arranged communities," and which, thank God, we know to be no where more happily exercised than in the United States. Had there been in the booth, dancing to the fiddle, a single female, even of loose character, the whole aspect of the book might have been changed! As it is, we may, perhaps, in vain remind him, as a kind of set oiT against the adventure of the fiddle, that there is no incident in the early life of Wash- ington more familiar to our youth, or deemed more character- istic, than his prompt abandonment of the Navy, at the instance of a widowed mother. The Captain says, '* in England, no fair, no place of public amusement, no election.) no Court of justice, no place, in short, public or private, is ever thought complete without a cer- tain and moat influential proportion oifanale interest being ^lixedwiih its duties or its pleasures." When he asserts, dis- paragingly, that there is nothing of this in the United States, we must ask him for an explanation. Let us take, for exam- ple, the legislative bodies of the two countries. These are the places to which females, one would suppose, might resort with the least fear of being annoyed, or of embarrassing by their pre- sence the more sensitive of the other sex. Now, how does this matter stand in Great Britain? The annual session of Parlia- ment, in London, is there the only scene of this description, and it happens that from both Houses ladies are excluded. We must explain. There is a prohibition never, we believe, de- parted from, against their appearance in the gallery, or on the floor of the House of Commons; but, by a special order fi'om the Speaker, they may be admitted to a sort of loft above the House, whence they gaze down through a grating kept open for the purpose of ventilation, the scope of vision being about suf- ficient to enable them to catch a glimpse of the Speaker's wig. In order to enjoy this luxury, each lady has to thrust her head into one of the apertures of a kind of sentry-box which encom- passes the ventilator, and to one below they must look like so many rogues in a pillory. All this time they breathe an air pro- ceeding from the heated lungs in the small, close, and crowd- ed room beneath. So jealous is the "separation of the sexes," that the officer, though sufficiently courteous, is in the fid- gets when a gentleman manifests the least reluctance to quit the fair object of his charge. In the other House the arrangement is still more churlish. Formerly, ladies were admitted on the special introduction of a Peer; but since the debate on the Ca- tholic question, there has been a new rule forbidding even this; and the only mode now for them to obtain access, is bv an ar- 10 rangement with the officer who has charge of a small spot neat the door, shrouded by a red curtain. The lady creeps, stealth- ily, under cover, lest her good-natured introducer should be subjected to the rebuke of the Chancellor. Captain Hall knows, perfectly well, that, in both Houses of Congress, ample provi- sion is made for the accommodation of ladies who constantly at- tend, without any ridiculous, and somewhat derogatory, effort at concealment. The same is the case in all the State Legis' latures. As to the Courts of justice, he surely does not mean to as- sert that it is customary, in London, for ladies to attend them. Such is not the fact, and few who take up the newspaper ac- counts of jury trials will wish, that their wives, daughters, or sisters, had been present to join in the " laugh" with which the report is usually interlarded, or to have been desired to with- draw on account of apprehended indelicacy. It certainly is not fashionable for ladies in America to be present on such occa- sions, unless the nature of the case be well known; but in the Supreme Court of the United States, sitting as a Court of Er- ror, he must have daily seen the gay throng in attendance, and the careful provision made for their accommodation. If by " a certain and most influential portion of female interesf' being " mixed" with the " duties" of a court of justice, he refer to that kind of influence which brought about the dismissal of Lord Chancellor Clarendon, it is very certain we know nothing of it. Any other meaning he may have, we have not succeed- ed in catching. As to Elections, we plead guilty, to being of the number of those who rejoice that they abstain from any active interference. Surely Captain Hall, after deprecating the prevalence of politi- cal discussions amongst us, cannot be serious in regretting that the better half of our population should keep aloof from the ir- ritating contest. One would think he ought rather to rejoice that the fire-side is sacred, and that it affords something to re- lieve and soften the bitterness of party spirit. We were cer- tainly not much edified, during the last session of Parliament, at Petitions from females breathing a language not unlike that with which, in former days, they urged the speedy execution of the King's Minister.* One thing is very clear; the ladies *In the 7th vohime of the Harleian Miscellanj', p. 605, (Ed. of 1811) will be found "The retition of the Gentlewomen and Tradesmen's Wives, in and about the Citv of London," dehvered to the House of Commons, 4tli February 1641. They declare that nothing can go right whilst that arch enemy of our Faith and 'Eefonnation Ueth in the Tower, yet not receiving his deserved punishment." «' The insolencies of the Papists and then* abettors, raiseth a just fear and sus- picion of sowing sedition, and breaking out into bloody persecution in this Iving- dom,the thoughts of which sad and barbarous events make our tender hearts to melt within us." « Our present fears are that unless the blood-thirsty faction of the Papists and Prelates be hindered in their designsj" &c. It often stouck must either agree with their male relatives on political subjects, or differ from them; if the former be the case, their active ex- ertions at the polls may well be spared, and if the latter, no one, we presume, will deem such exertions a public good. They have functions more endearing and appropriate, even out of the domestic circle. Captain Hall pays a tribute to the untiring and effective zeal of the American ladies, in reference to all the institutions sacred to Charity; and this must atone, as far as it may, for their absence from Elections. We are inclined to lead Captain Hall to the condemnation of his querilous temper, as to the complacency with which the Americans spoke of their institutions, and their public works: we might, perhaps, ask him to account for the parental weakness which has devoted so large a portion of these volumes to a lit- tle personage, who, however dear to himself, cannot be deemed very interesting to the reader. What right has he to eke out a two-guinea book, on America, by giving us not only the most frivolous details about his own person — his eating and drinking, and sleeping and "snoozing," and shaving — but by an abstract of the family debate, as to whether he should take his infant child with him across the Atlantic, and by introducing long passages, of which the following are specimens: — "As I was desirous that my child should have it to say, in future years, that she had seen this remarkable star, I was tempted to carry her out to the verandah on purpose to show it to her. It was so low down, however, that for some time I could not fix her attention on the spot. At last she caught a glimpse of it, flash- ing away between the tops of the trees, and turning to me, ex- claimed, 'Moon! Moon!'" Again, "The child, who had ac- companied us all the morning, though unconscious of the cause, likewise felt the genial influence of the hour, and amused her- self at our feet, while we were seated on the grass, by tryhig to imitate the sounds made by a pig which had thrust him- self m,ost unpoeticaUy into the foreground of the picture, and there busied himself, much to the infanfs amusem^ent, in making a line of circumvallation round the party, luith his snout. ^' " Our confidence in the measure alluded to, was much increased by discovering how good a traveller the little creature made, though only fourteen months old. Of this we had an amu- sing proof, on the morning after the scene with the pig. At four o'clock we were all roused up to prepare for the steam-boat which passed at five. I thought it a jrity to awake her, and therefore merely wrapped her up in my boat-cloak, in which she was carried /i^//^ half a mile to the landing place. There the us with surprise on witnessing petitions from females during the last session, and a talk about " looking into precedents," that no allusion should be made to a Document so apposite in its terms, and so characteristic of the times in which it was presented. 16 yuim^ adveyiturer was laid 07i the table of a warehouse, in the midst of bells ringing, doors banging, and all kinds of music, till the steam-boat hove in sight. Still she slept on, through all the clatter of the passengers and paddle ivheels, and never stirred or opened her eyes till we had left the pretty town of Hudson many miles astern. " We are farther let into the fact, that the little girl ran about on board the canal boat, "at the end of a shawl, by which she was tethered for better security against tumbling overboard." It is added, in illustration of the state of things in the United States, ''During all the morning she had been dragging the passengers about the decks of the steam-boat, opening every box and door that she could get at, till she fairly dropped asleep, at full length, in the middle of the deck." Having, ''let a good meal slip by us,'' the consequence was, that the child was " lohining from time to time, from sheer hunger." Then we have two pages to the same purport, at the end of which, "little Miss," is found "gobbling up" some new milk. On another occasion, "I am not sure that I ever looked upon her little countenance with so much satisfaction, as I did at that moment." All this, too, occurs in a book which omits what would re- ally, be of interest, and with regard to which Captain Hall had very good opportunities of informing himself. Thus he tra- versed the whole of the Southern States, and we looked, with some eagerness, for information, as to the actual influence of the Tariff on that quarter. Did the feeling of repugnance seem so strong as to threaten a convulsion, should the measure be persisted in, without modification? How far has it affected the Liverpool connexion? Does the prospect of a safe domes- tic market begin to reconcile the people to it? Do they get from the Eastern manufactories, an article as good and as cheap as the imported one? How much of their Cotton is consumed at those establishments, and what are the comparative advan- tages of the two markets? What do they say as to the oppres- sive duty, of this country, on Tobacco? Do they confirqi the British Ambassador's declaration to his Government, that the Tariff Bill never would have passed but for the pressure of the British Corn Laws on the great staples of Pennsylvania? (See Parliamentary Documents.) He is totally silent on these points, and yet has leisure to tell us, that his child mistook a star for the moon, and that he himself was guilty of a very dif- ferent blunder at Niagara, for, whilst evidently only moon- struck, he fancied himself, "traversing the Heavens, in com- pany with Sir Isaac Newton, and that the sage was just going to tell me about the distance of \}i\<& fixed starsP^ (vol. i. p. 353.) These stars, perhaps, are more in fault than he; otherwise, we might complain of a hundred other omissions: amongst the rest;, his total silence as to most important public works. If we were to take Captain Hall to task, in a harsh temper, for having thus filled up his book with matters which can only interest himself, he would probably wish to reply in the lan- guage of one of the most delightful of living writers: — "To persons of a cold and reserved temper, he sometimes appeared rather too much of an egotist, for he talked with fluent enthu- siasm of the excellent qualities and beauties of whatever he loved, whether it were his dog, his horse, or his country; but this was not the egotism of vanity — it was the overflowing of an affectionate heart, confident of obtaining sympathy from his fellow creatures, because conscious of feeling it for all that ex- isted." He would declare, that he lived, as it were, unguard- edly amongst these people, and, feeling almost domesticated, forgot the technical rules of politeness. " In general society , also, so much attention was paid to our wants, and such a rea- dy disposition manifested to give information — to say nothing of the obliging notice taken by all parties of our young tra- veller, now a year and a half old — that we left Albany with sincere regret." Now Albany is the place most vehemently denounced for self-puffing, and this "tormenting" practice, proceeded so far, that "there was hardly room left for us to slip in a word edgeways." Suppose these good people, the moment Captain Hall turned his back, had begun to recollect the " rules of behaviour," which he declares are not yet "set- tled" in America, and which seem, by mutual consent, to have slumbered during this free and unsuspicious intercourse. All the world over, he says, it is ill-manners to praise your own family; yet we venture to say, that Captain Hall told these people all about " what a good traveller the little creature made," of the attempt to imitate the pig, and of that other "amusing" incident, "the day after the scene with the pig." It is laid down in the Books, to be very vulgar to plague people with your children — troublesome brats — yet all parties at Albany, it seems, had a tax imposed on their kindness and good nature, which was cheerfully paid, because, they saw that the parents were gratified. And yet because, in this sort of amiable inter- course, the feelings flowed out on the other side, and they talk- ed of the nurselings of their pride, which Captain Hall had come across the Atlantic to visit — brought them into the par- lour, and dandled them before him — he "finds from his notes," that all this was very disgusting. For our part, we confess that the passages relating to the lit- tle girl are by far the most pleasing of the whole, and we would give up all the profound disquisitions rather than part with one anecdote, even that about the pig. We catch, here, something of an amiable play about the features of the Book, relieving its high cheek-bones, and vile, sarcastic. Sneer, and pert, conceit- ed Voice. Bad taste as it may be, we dearly love to hear good 78 Mrs. Primrose "praising up" her daughters, and are not "tor- mented," even when she declares that the chits, well as they footed it, had caught all their best steps from herself. But we have been conceding the truth of the charge. Where is the evidence of it, or what, in fact, is distinctly meant by- it? He declares they bepraised their institutions and their ca- nal. Now we presume, that when a stranger comes into a country to examine what is peculiar to it — and asks, an expla- nation of the circumstances in which it differs from what he finds elsewhere — an effort will be made to set forth the reasons to the best advantage. We consider every thing to be for the best; otherwise we would make a change. The very statement of these supposed advantages necessarily involves a high degree of praise, and, of course, exposes the informant to the sneers of a person like Captain Hall, who says, "very often, when asking for information, I have detected that my ivish was rather to prove my original and prejudiced conceptions right, than to discover that I had previously done the people injustice." It is curious to note how Captain Hall manages this matter on his own part. At the close of his work, he introduces a dia- logue between himself, and an American, in which, to be sure, he draws such a picture of the English Government, that we only wonder his vanquished antagonist did not at once deter- mine to quit the poor Republic, and, according to the forms of knight-errantry throw himself at the feet of the victor's dulci- nea. If it be in the power of exaggeration to do more, we think the materials can be drawn only from Captain Hall's apparently inexhaustible stores. The poor American in this "character- istic" colloquy does not venture to say a word in favour of his own country, but confines himself to a feeble assault which is readily parried with the aid of a stern countenance, and a loud, authoritative, voice. We may remark, by the way, that this anonymous American the Captain took into his service at a ve- ry early period, and carried all over the country with him, and the poor devil never once gets the better in any of their various discussions. He seems, in truth, to have been a sim- ple, easy, soul, with no great stock of brains, and marvellously in awe of the Captain, oftentimes appearing quite afraid to speak up, or even to say his soul's his own. In this closing exhibi- tion, he plays the part of a good-natured spectator at a show — naming the cards, and if he say one of them's black — lo — pres- to — the Captain breathes on it — its a white ace! At parting he gets a good character for honesty and civility, and may be safe- ly recommended to any future tourist of Captain Hall's tempe- rament, particularly if travelling with children. It seems, farther, from the Captain's account, that the Al- bany people made much of their Canal; telling him, doubt- less, — in reply to bis inquiries, — ^what it had cost, what diffi* 79 culties they had to struggle with, what revenue it yielded to the State, and paying a deserved tribute to the illustrious citizen whose fame is identified with its success. But the Canadians, do not boast of their Canals. For this we have already furnished, it is presumed, a sufficient reason. Their cue was, in the language of Captain Hall's Irish friend, Cornelius, rather to " understate" matters. That they put on a begging air, and asked, that a good word might be spoken for them at home, may be inferred from various passages. Thus (vol. i. p. 235,) "The Rideau Canal, must, if we regard our national honour, on no account be abandoned, cost what it 9nay.'* And again, "Our present duty is most clear, and though its execution be somewhat costly, its imperative cha- racter is not altered on that account." Speaking of "a pro- jected fortress at the Short Hills," he says, (vol. i. p. 249,) *' I conceive that this fortification, and one or two others, ought to be erected forthwith, to shovv^ the Canadians as well as their neighbours, that we are in earnest, &c. " He holds it out in terrorem, to the Canadians, that " were they to become mem- bers of the American Confederacy," then, " every improve- ment made, would be at the expense of direct taxation, from which they are now exempt." Tiiat Captain Hall should deem this a very powerful argument is natural from what he saw of their indisposition to put their own shoulders to the wheel. *' We left Quebec at half past nine in the morning of the 28th August, and after an hour and a half's drive, came to the river Montmorency, over which there had been a bridge that, about six weeks before, had tumbled down, and, what was absurd enough, there seemed every probability of its remaining down six weeks longer, though an active carpenter with some twen- ty labourers, might easily have put it up again, and n.'ade it passable for carriages in two days. I never saw any country where these sort of things appeared to move so slowly as in Canada," It may be recollected, that a few hours after leaving the Capital of the other Province, they were brought into im- minent peril in attempting to cross a river, " where a bridge had once stood, but stood no longer." It seems, however, that for what the Canadians really con- sider their own, they are very much disposed to exact admi- ration. They do not, for example, fear that an Englishman %vill say, according to Mr. Canning's well known story, " that's, my thunder. " They almost plagued him to death about their cascades, and carried their impertinence so far, as even to think that he would, to please them, break in on his "morning nap," (vol. i. p. 399,) which he seems to consider the summum bonum. *' We lay snoozing very snugly," (ib. p. 398,) is his beau ideal of happiness, even in the month of August. Besides, he has no good of his victuals when hurried ; 80 and breaks out thus, on these importunate people, (p. 399-400.) *' Were we to snatch hasty cold meals, or scald our throats with boiling tea, instead of doing such business at leisure, merely because a waterfall was to be seen?'^ "But to travel in this leisurely style, you must keep yourselves to yourselves, and shun as you would that of an evil spirit the assistance of guides, chaperons, or companions; and, above all, that of well in- formed friends. Had we been accompanied, for example, on our excursion to St. Anne's, by any of the very pleasant and obliging people ot Quebec, to whom every foot of the ground is well known, what a fuss they would have been in, on find- ing their victim was only beginning to think of shaving two hours after he ought, by their reckoning, to have been under all sail on the mountain's side," &c. He at length comes to start at the bare mention of a Lion in the path; yet these mer- ciless people let on him the little ones and all. Thus, (p. 401,) ^^ Kettle Falls, so called, I believe, in consequence of a num- ber of holes worn by the stream in the surface of the rocks, into the shape of pots and pans. Be this as it may, the river happened to be so low, that there was nothing in the way of cascade, to be seen; and upon the whole, we felt a m.alicious satisfaction at the circumstance, for we were beginning to get rather tired of waterfalls. Independently of which, it is sometimes quite a relief to be spared the pain of inexpressi- ble admiration " Most amiable gentleman-like feeling truly! A ''malicious satisfaction" that kind people, who left their em- ployments, and endeavoured to render his journey agreeable, should be mortified at finding that accidental circumstances prevent their previous representations with regard to scenery from being verified! We look back with something of puzzle at Captain Hall's assertion, (p. 212,) that the Canadians "with- out insisting upon having things viewed couleur de rose, are content to believe that strangers passing through their country, will take a fair view of things." It occurs, about the period of his rencontre with that Cavalier, who had disencumbered himself of his " nether garments," to move more comfortably through the mud. Yet though the portly horseman, who af- terwards became Captain Hall's " fat friend," is very candid as to the state of the roads, he still exhibits rather a boastful temper in his way. ' The trutli is, added he, chuckling at his own proivess, I had some considerable distance to ride through a place where it was so deep, that the water came far above my knees,' and again, ' Oh, cried he, guessing our thoughts, and smacking his thigh ivith his hand, I was obliged to take off these articles (naming them,) and by hanging them over my shoulders, I did very well as you perceive.' The seeming contradiction is to be reconciled by noting, that in one place, his object is to throw out a silly sarcasm at the United States, \ 81 by a compliment to the Canadians, whilst in the other, he yields, unguardedly, to the promptings of natural temper. Now and then, the Captain runs to an extreme of impartia- lity, offering opinions in direct and palpable contradiction of each other, and leaving us at liberty to make up our minds quite untrammelled by his authorit)'-. Thus, at p. 124, of the first volume, he adverts to the want of rapture on the part of Ame- ricans towards the scenery of the Hudson. " Neither is this to be explained by supposing them to have become too well ac- quainted with the objects in question; for I think it happens, generally, that when there is a real, and not an imaginary per- ception of the beauties of nature, the pleasure arising from their contemplation goes on increasing, and habit, so far from ren- dering such scenes too familiar to be interesting, only contri- butes to unfold new points for admiration." At p. 253 of the same volume, he says, " It may, perhaps, sound heterodox, but I know few things more fatiguing, /or a continuance, than fine ecenery; and I suspect most people, after passing three or four loeeksin Switzerland, would say they were right glad to escape into Italy, or even into France." One or the other of these passages must, of course, be erased, after the author shall have fully made up his mind, and, doubtless, he will retain the sar- casm against the people of the United States. It will not fail to occur to the reader that here is one of the most striking in- stances of the silly, thoughtless, frivollt}^ of the tourist. He has professed to describe the feelings of Americans towards scenery, and towards England; and his mode of treating one may illustrate his candour and powers of philosophical obser- vation with regard to the other. He decides that the Americans are insensible to the beauties of Nature, because he witnessed no overt act of Rapture at scenes with which they had been conversant from childhood. And yet this intensity of enjoy- ment which should "goon increasing" with familiarity, is de- clared, a little farther on, to pall after three weeks! We feel very sure that Nature will not be deceived by such a witness as Captain Hall; and it is hoped that England will not. Another of his inexplicable jumbles. On the Hudson River he forbears to say any thing about the scenery, because it " has been so ably and so faithfully described" by a " classical" American author. On the way from New Orleans, he is oc- cupied on a '' spirited" American work. He expresses signal gratification that the works of a lady of Massachusetts had been republished in England. On Mr. Cooper's novels he passes the highest eulogium. An American work, written " in a very masterly style," he apprises his readers, is to be *' procured from Mr. Miller, American book-seller. Pall Mall, London." He quotes passages from various " learned," " eloquent" " able," American writers. At Philadelphia a gentleman sa- tisfiesr* him that he has committed an important philological 11 82 blunder in his book on Loo Choo, and he is so anxious to repair, as far as possible, the mischief, that he got the gentleman to draw up a paper on the subject, which he caused to be published in London, and tells us where it is to be procured. At New liaven, he says, " I was at first surprised when Mr. Webster assured me there were not fifty words in all which were used in America, and not in England, but I have certainly not been able to collect nearly that number. He told me, too, what I did not quite agree to at the time, but which subsequent inquiry has confirmed as far as it has gone, that with very few excep- tions, all these apparent novelties are merely old English words brought over by the early settlers." He finds, every where, *^ pleasant agreeable" people, and his chance fellow passengers in the stage, prove "very intelligent persons, who gave us much information that was quite new." Now it does not ap- pear that Captain Hall travelled with an Interpreter, or that he read the volumes referred to in a translation. Yet at one of those moments when he saw things " through a bilious medi- um," he makes the following unqualified assertion, '' In all my Travels, both amongst Heathens (Loo Choo, &c.,) and amongst Christians, I have never encountered ani/ people by whom I found it nearly so difficult to make myself understood as by the Americans." And to the utter dismay, doubtless, of '' Mr. Miller, American bookseller, Pall Mall, London," no sooner has he given that gentleman's address, and recommended, ap- parently, his readers to go there and purchase a certain Ame- rican work, written " in a very masterly style," than he turns round and speaks of the " very foolish sort of ivisdorri'^ which w^ould be manifested in " extending our acquaintance with their literature and history beyond its present confined limits-!" At Boston, Captain Hall visited the High School for boys, and two of the scholars (" who took us for their own country people") being called out to speak, happened, unluckily, to hit upon some specimens of oratory not exactly suited to such an audience. From the description given of these speeches, the adoption of which "as models" he deprecates, we suppose them to have been, the one that of Col. Barre, and the other, Lord Chatham's. The phrases quoted, " Gratitude! Gratitude to England," &c., are Col. Barre's, with an addition, we sus- pect, from Captain Hall. The American gentlemen who ac- companied him were " disconcerted" at the circumstance. The Captain manifested his usual good breeding by loud and sarcas- tic merriment. " We were amused to the top ofoitr bent, and the young orators seeing us take more than common interest in their declamations, elevated their voices," &c. Strange that Captain Hall cannot see the wretchedly vulgar taste of all this! If, as we are inclined to suppose, the speech which he heard was that of Lord Chatham, usually associated with Barre's, we can readily understand that it might not have been 83 very acceptable to him. The following is an extract: — ^^ These Colonisis are ;mw, my Lords, called rebels; they are stigma- tized w'th every base and abusive epithet in the English lan- guage. Yet, my Lords, / rcniemher when this country was waging war with the united powers of France and Spain; when there was a rebellion, a Scotch rebellion, within this land; / remember when our fleets were useless — our armies unsuccess- ful — that these men, now described as the blackest and basest of all rebels, nay more, that very Colony v,'hich has been re- presented as the hot-bed of sedition and treason — that colony against which the keenest lightnings of government are de- nounced and directed; I remember, I say, my Lords, this very Colony, sending forth four regiments of undisciplined militia, which gave the first check to France in her proud career, and erected the standard, of conquest on the walls of Louis- bourgh. But, my Lords, we need not point out particular facts in proof of the bravery, the zeal, the duty and affection of the people; the annals of the last war (that which ended i\\ 1763,) will tell such of your Lordships as are not old enough to remember, how they fought, and how they bled; they will tell you how generously they contributed, how like loving brothers they shared the common burden and the common dan- ger. Your system, my Lords, has been erected on the ruins of the Constitution, and founded in conquest, and you have swept all Germany of its refuse as its means. There is not a petty, insignificant, prince, whom you have not solicited for aid." (Gentleman's Magazine for 1777, p. 251-2.) Our tourist cannot seriously think that an American school- master is bound to prohibit the use of Lord Chatham's speeches. True, Captain Hall has a peculiar theory of his own on the sub- ject of public speaking, and insists on a sort of quiet, snug, col- loquial manner, little suited to the vehement and masculine spirit of the great orator, or indeed of Fox, Burke, or Canning. He cannot abide, he says, that ''loud oratorical tone which is the bane of good debating.^' With regard to Col. Barre, if Junius did not disdain to borrow a sarcasm from him, surely we may be permitted to refer to one who was the most strenu- ous asserter of the great constitutional principle on which the revolution was fought, and with regard to which both coun- tries now entertain the same opinion. That our admiration of Lord Chatham's oratory is not altogether connected with his conduct in reference to the revolutionary struggle may be in- ferred from the circumstance that the speech on the difficulties with Spain is equally well known, and as great a favourite in our schools. We remember to have recited it with due em- phasis and discretion, from " Select Speeches, Forensic and Parliamentary," which is the standard American collection, and in the following passage we find that our memory corres- ponds exactly with the report in the Gentleman's Magazine, for the year 1770, (p. 571.) 84 ''My Lords, the English are a candid, an ingenuous peo- ple: the Spaniards are as mean and crafty as they are proud and insolent. The integrity of the English merchant, the gene- rous spirit of our naval and military officers would be degraded by a comparison with their merchants or officers. With their ministers I have often been obliged to negotiate, and after long experience of their want of candour and good faith, I found myself compelled," &c. The Quarterly Review in quoting this part of Captain Hall's book, expresses infinite horror, that such a temper "could be introduced into the recitations of their inflated compositions, in their seminaries for education." We have given what is .supposed to be the true explanation, though the tourist has so veiled his description that nothing but conjecture can be ha- zarded. We may ask, whilst on the subject, for an explana- tion of a circumstance which has attracted some attention in the United States. In the Gentleman's Magazine, for April, 1815, (p. 352,) will be found not merely the adoption of a mo- del, but an original composition prepared for the most distin- guished "seminary for education," in Great Britain — that of Westminster. It was here, that Lord Mansfield was educated, and his biographer remarks, "His Lordship having paid eve- ry grateful tribute to Westminster School in his life time, where he received his education, his profound respect for ahna ma- ter dictated the direction in his Will, that his remains should be deposited there." The composition alluded to is a virulent attack on the United States; and the purity and force of the Latin show it to be no school-boy production. It is thrown into the form of a dissuasive against emigration to the United States, and, of course, was written after the termination of the war. The following are specimens of its vituperation. It is said, to be, there, accounted a good joke to gouge, to scalp, to bite off the nose, and to take human life. oculos exscalpere, poUice frontem Scalpere, nasum omnem mordicas abripere Atque nccare hominem jocus est Icpidissimus. To lie, is the great boast of an American merchant. " Mentiri est mercatorls laus summa," Of the Chief Justice of the United States, it is said, " Optimus et Judex maximus est nebulo." and of the various meanings of the word, whether " rascal,"' "scoundrel," "hector," " cowardly bully," &c., the reader is prompted to select the most odious. Did Captain Hall hear any thing of this sort in the United States? It is not designed, be it observed, to cherish a generous recollection of national prowess, but consists of mere cold-blooded defamation. The same personage has filled the office alluded to for more than a 85 quarter of a century, and Captain Hall speaks of 'Uhe pre-emi- nent talents and high character of the present venerable Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States." May not the learned authorities of this Institution reflect, with pain, how far they have contributed, to foster that ''unkindly feeling,'" and that, ''animosity," which, we are told, prevail in Great Britain towards America? The young gentlemen who were tutored to utter these falsehoods are now in the House of Lords or the House of Commons. Can the shade of Lord Mansfield linger with complacency round a scene desecrated by the slan- der of one whom he would not have disdained as an associate in the Sacred Ministry of Justice? Captain Hall is at a loss to understand what motives he can possibly have for giving an unfavourable account of the L^nited States. Without imputing to him either the guilt, or the stea- diness of purpose, implied in a settled determination to misre- present, we can readily imagine a variety of considerations which have, perhaps insensibly to himself, given a tone to his book. We are willing to believe that he reached the threshold of publication irresolute. A confused mass of materials lay be- fore him; a great deal prepared, while he saw every thing '* through a bilious medium," and the rest in a more compla- cent mood; time was hastening to take from the interest and freshness of his statements; a decision must be made; and it was essential to the dignity of the work to give to the whole, some prevailing character, so that even grave Statesmen might not disdain to draw from it important political reflections. This is the trying crisis when anxious thoughts throng upon a weak, and a vain, man, looking over his discordant notes and calculating the chances of success; and it is to this period that our remarks apply. A manufacturer of books, like the manufacturer of any other article, must study the taste, and even the caprice, of the mar- ket. Those " china plates," as Captain Hall calls them, which he saw bearing the image of General Washington, came from England; and nothing, certainly, can exceed the good nature with which the amiable people at the Potteries have waived their prejudices, and ministered to our self-complacencj'', particular- ly in reference to the naval combats. Now, as to the American market, Captain Hall ascertained that in order to take out a copy- right, he must be a resident of the United States, and this not exactly suiting his views, he declares, that he writes exclusive- ly for his own countrymen. What then did he believe would be the most acceptable strain? He has characterized the pre- valent temper towards America, by the epithets " ill-will," ^'animosity," "unkindly feelings." It was, therefore, not likely that a book got up in a temper utterly rebuking these sentiments would be a very popular, or a very saleable, one. 8G Captain Hall had the benefit of his own experience to guide him. He knew how much more gratifying it was to find "his origi- nal and prejudiced conceptions right, than to discover that in- justice had previously been done to the people." (vol. i. p. 167.) Preconceived opinions are not, as he justly remarks, to be " got rid of without a certain degree of inconsistency gene- rally ;oae/^w/, and sometimes ridiculous.'^ (ib.) If he expe- rienced this feeling amidst the kindness and hospitality of the country, he might well anticipate its existence on the part of those who, with like prejudices, have no such reason for thinking their indulgence ungracious or unkind. It is undoubted, that the judgment is piqued by perpetual contradiction and efforts to set us right, and, besides, more labour is involved in the pro- cess than one chooses to expend on volumes classed with the lighter literature of the day. It is another advantage, and some- times an important one, of a tone of assentation, that we re- quire nothing to corroborate what falls quietly in with our own previous belief, whilst he who opposes it becomes at once the adversary's witness, and half our thoughts are em- ployed in preparing a cross-examination, and considering how his testimony may be assailed. In the next place, it is evident that Captain Hall, if not him- self a partisan, has, at least, been habitually in association, and the warmest sympathy, with the party described in the follow- ing passage of the Edinburgh Review, (Vol. xxxiii. page 399.) ^' It is a fact which can require no proof even in America, that there is a party in this country not friendly to political liberty, and decidedly hostile to all extension of popular rights, which, if it does not grudge to its own people the powers and privi- leges which are bestowed on them by the Constitution, is, at least, for confining their exercise within the narrowest limits — which thinks the peace and well being of societ)^ in no danger from any thing but popular encroachments, and holds the only safe or desirable government to be that of a pretty, pure, and unencumbered monarchy, supported by a vast revenue and a powerful army, and obe)^ed by a people just enlightened enough to be orderly and industrious, but no way curious as to ques- tions of right, and never presuming to judge of the conduct of their superiors. Now, it is quite true that this party dislikes America, and is apt enough to decry and insult her. Its adhe- rents never have forgiven the success of her War of Indepen- dence — the loss of a nominal sovereignty, or perhaps of a real power of vexing and oppressing her supposed rivalry in trade, and, above all, the happiness and tranquillity which she enjoys under a republican form of government. Such a spectacle of democratical prosperity is unspeakably mortifying to their prin- ciples, and is easily imagined to be dangerous to their security. Their first wish, and for a time their darling hope, was that the infant States would quarrel among themselves, and be thankful 87 to be again received under our protection as a refuge from mili- tary despotism. Since that hope was lost, it would have satis- tied them to find that their republican institutions had made them poor, and turbulent, and depraved, incapable of civil wis- dom, regardless of national honour, and as intractable to their own elected rulers as they had been to their hereditary sove- reign. To those who were capable of such wishes, and such expectations, it is easy to conceive that the happiness and good order of the United States — the wisdom and authority of their government — and the unparalleled rapidity of their progress in wealth, population, and I'efinement, must have been but an ungrateful spectacle; and most especially, that the splendid and steady success of the freest and most popular form of govern- ment that ever was established in the world, must have struck the most lively alarm into the hearts of all those who were anx- ious to have it believed that the people could never interfere in politics, but to their ruin, and that the smallest addition to the democratical influence recognised in the theory, at least, of the British Constitution must lead to the immediate destruction of peace and prosperity, morality and religion. That there are journals in this country, and journals, too, of great and deserved reputation in other respects, which have spoken the languge of the party we have now described, and that in a tone of singu- lar intemperance and offence, we most readily admit," &c. It is curious to note how soon after the Revolution this tem- per was displayed. Dr. Franklin, in the year 1786, writing from America toM. Le Veillard, uses the following language, (Memoirs, &c., Lon- don, 1818, 2 vol. p. 90.) "Be assured that all the stories spread in the English papers of our distresses and confusions, and discontents with our new government, are as chimerical as the history of my being in chains at Algiers. They exist only in the wishes of our enemies." "All this is in answer to that part of your letter, in which you seem to have been too much impressed with some of the ideas which those lying Englih pa- pers endeavour to inculcate concerning us." And again, in a letter to David Hartley, Esq., he says, (vol, ii. p. 136.) " Your newspapers are filled with accounts of dis- tresses and miseries, that these States are plunged into, since their separation from Britain. You may believe me when I tell you, that there is no truth in these accounts." In a letter, dated London, 22nd April, 1786, Mr. Jefferson says, (See Memoir, Correspondence, &c., London, 1829, 2 vol. p. 2.) "I dined the other day in a company of the ministCFi- al party. A General Clark, a Scotchman and a ministerialist, sat next to me. He introduced the subject of American affairs, and, in the course of the conversation, told me that were Ame- rica to petition Parliament to be again received on their for- mer footing, the petition would be very generally rejected." 88 The same disposition is manifested, at the present day, by those who think it important to decry the influence of popular sentiment in every country, and under every form of govern- ment. The continued tranquillity and happiness of America they regard as an affront to their sagacity, and as having, for fifty years, kept them out of a good argument. Fortunately, a new topic has of late years started up to vary the themes cur- rent in Dr. Franklin's day. The difficulty experienced by tho people of Mexico, &c., in suddenly turning to the best advan- tage their escape from Despotism — the awkwardness of their first attempts at self-government without the least previous train- ing or preparation — are turned to an excellent account. The omission, also, to pay dividends, has given a shock to the cre- dit of Republicanism on Change, and the panic spreading thence amongst the holders of the public securities, people start at the very word Reform, as if it must lead to something shifty and insecure, besides involving an unworthy imitation of a parcel of Republics, who, if caught in England, would be every one of them in the King's Bench before night. It is a matter of course, that we are destined to the same evils; the whole being treated as one great partnership concern for the propagation of republicanism, and we, as senior mem- bers of the Firm, liable for the errors of the others, and, per- haps, in honour, if the matter was duly considered, for their debts. The Quarterly review assures its readers that it is " only by maintaining peace that they (the United States) have any chance of preventing their country from exhibiting the same scenes of tnisery, as are now displaying themselves in the sis- ter democracies of Mexico, Peru, Columbia, and La Plata, (No. for November 1829.) The Review has, indeed, ventured on a very bold experiment. To the Article on Captain Hall's Travels, is appended a Letter purporting to come from the United States, of which the object is to prove the folly of at- tempting to remedy the grossest abuses in Government or the Laws. The writer is made, mysteriousl)'', to sa}'^, ^'nature will sometimes effect changes, but art cannot," and he "ho- nours" the Spaniard who '' boasts" of the tranquillizing effects of the Inquisition. The whole, iii short, is not merely a rebuke of those who achieved the American Revolution, but of all who were active in 1688, or even in bringing about the late measure of relief to the Catholics. It is introduced as confirmatory of a hope that Captain Hall's book may do good in America. Now, unfortunately for any such connexion, the whole object of his profound work is to prove that America never can be happy without a complete change in her form of government Even dram-drinking. Captain Hall declares, must go on increasing, so long as we continue to be republicans. *' The habit, accord- ing to my view of the matter, is interwoven in the very struc- ture of that political society which the Americans not only de* 89 fend, but uphold, as the very wisest that has ever been devised, or ever put in practice for the good of mankind," (vol. ii. p. 85.) So far, then, from inculcating the principle of ntare deci- sis, Captain Hall assures us that even our vows of sobriety, for the time to come, will be utterly unavailing, unless we lay the axe to the root of the evil, and strike out all the more popular features of our Constitution — including, perhaps, the provision as to the Liberty of the Press. Doubtless his suggestion will have due weight with those who are endeavouring to discover a remedy for an evil which is now so severely scourging En- gland, and which short-sighted people have attributed to a i^ery different cause. The Organ of the Party to which allusion has been made is, undoubtedly, the Quarterly Review; and Captain Hall cannot i)e ignorant of its influence with the class of persons into whose hands his book was likely to fall. In the number for Janua- ry 1828, of that work, is an Essay on the subject of America, written by some one connected with the English Adtniraltyy and enjoying familiar access to its archives. It is in this ar- ticle that the assertion is made, '' We need hardly say there is not a Captain in the British Navy, who would not, in the event of a contest, be delighted to meet with the Pennsylvania while in command of the Caledonia." It is remarkable that in this same article, a ^' wish'' is expressed that the kindness shown to Captain Hall in the United States, might not have the effect of ^^ causing our agreeable Captain to see things cou- leur de rose." (No. for January, 1828, p. 261.) This was eighteen months before the appearance of the Travels, and we submit that it was hardly fair. Its tendency was in the first place to disincline Americans to extend to a traveller, thus cau- tioned, the kindness and the facilities for obtaining information which any other stranger would have enjoyed, lest the mere impulse of hospitality might be construed into a wish to pur- chase from the "agreeable Captain" golden opinions of them- selves and their country. Nor would it seem to be less calcu- lated to have an influence on the agreeable gentleman himself. The air of the several articles referred to, and of another of the same stamp, in the No. for January 1829, is altogether official and authoritative. Thus we are told, and the information is now for the first time given to the world, that the conflagra- tion at Washington, "was in reality a measure of the Cabinet, and not of the Camp," (No. for March 1828, p. 513;) and in the more recent article referred to, it is said, " ivith confidence as regards the Government — with full conviction as far as regards the more intelligent part of the community, we can affirm," &c. &c. (No. for January 1829, p. 241.) Slight hints from such a quarter always mean rather more than meets the ear. It can require no great sagacity on the part of the officer to whom ad- vice is thus addressed; to understand that his chance of conti- 12 90 nuing to merit the title of "agreeable," will depend not a little on his consenting to afford some degree of countenance to the tirades of his counsellor. Care, indeed, is taken in these Ar* tides to give very clear warning of the treatment which an author must expect, who however accommodating his general temper may be, yet ventures, on any occasion, to express a sentiment inconsistent with the purposes of the critic. Thus the author of the " Narrative of the Campaigns at Washington, by the author of The Subaltern," though a landsman, and scarce- ly subject to Admiralty jurisdiction, and speaking of what occurred before his oivn eyes, is thus sharply rebuked for having the weakness to deplore the extent of mischief com- mitted at Washington, "We are sorry that a writer pos- sessed of our author's sense and judgment, should have in- considerately joined in such an outcry as this. He ought to have paused and reflected ivell, ere he thus ventured to give additional currency to the disingenuous suppressions and exag- gerations of our enemy, and to echo the unscrupulous flourishes of republican rhetoric." (Quart. Rev. for March, 1828, p. 512.) Another example of denunciation could hardly fail to rest on the memory of Captain Hall, for his own name is introduced into it. Thus in the review of Faux's Travels, the following expressions occur, (vol. 29. p. 339:) — " From such a man, and with such objects in view, one practical page is worth all the radical trash of the Halls, the Wrights, and the Tell Har- rises, in enabling us to form a just estimate," &c. The assault on Miss Wright is thus followed up: " Author of Views of So- ciety and Manners in America. We flattered ourselves that nothing .so base and degenerate in the shape of an Englishivo- Tnan could be found; but the sad reality has since appeared: a Miss Wright, an adopted daughter (as she says) of Jeremy Ben- tham, having prefixed her name to it." The Hall referred to is an Ofiicer of the British Army, who published a volume of Travels in the United States which, though displaying all the feelings of an Englishman, did not indulge in that blind and indiscriminate abuse of the country which had been looked for. On this account it was condemned to be burnt by the hands of that common hangman of the Review, who does the articles on America. But there was deep cunning in the hint given to Captain Hall. It showed him exactly the turn which would be given to any favourable representation he might make of the United States. He saw the ridicule prepared for him, as one whose palate, and whose vanity, had been tickled by good dinners and civil speeches. He saw in anticipation, " it will be remembered that eighteen months ago we took occasion to point out the danger to which our agreeable Captain was exposed, and really we cannot find it in our hearts to quarrel with the amiable weakness which has not been proof against the temptation to which we feared it 91 would be unequal.'* What a mortifying reception this, com- pared with the full, earnest, unqualified burst of gratitude with which he has been greeted ! *' If we may penetrate the motives of an author from his work, we should judge his design has been [to describe the United States? — No — but] to render sundry topics intelligible and po- pular which are not generally understood or relished by the bulk of the people, but to whom right views on these subjects are likely to be practically beneficial. He evidently wishes • to show the advantages which flow from the distinctions of rank, &c. &c. We are quite sure his book must do good here. It may furnish many well-disposed persons with arguments by which to defend the blessings they enjoy; it may decide the wavering, and confuse, if not silence, the turbulent and the revolutionary, of whom, we suppose, no free country will ever be entirely de- void, though we certainly do not remember the period at which one heard less of them in England than at present." One reflection is unavoidable. If Captain Hall's denuncia- tions are deemed of such vital importance, it follows that a cor- responding degree of mischief must have resulted from his speaking in favourable terms of the popular institutions of the United States. An object so important justified, perhaps, a language of caution to him, which seems, on its face, strangely illiberal. No one who reads the Article can well doubt its hav- ing been drawn up by a person conversant with the documents at Whitehall. It has, by some, been attributed to Mr. Cro- ker, the Secretary of the Admiralty, and by others, to the Un- der Secretary. Captain Hall, however, knows better than we can pretend to inform him, who was his significant prompter. But we are good naturedly disposed, instead of drawing harsh inferences of our own, to give the tourist an opportunity of speak- ing for himself. It is proposed, therefore, to follow his move- ments until we have reached a pretty decisive manifestation of his actual feelings towards the Republic. He tells us, that his first impressions of that country were formed " two or three and twenty years ago," whilst a midship- man of the " Leander, flag-ship of the Halifax station." They were not of a favourable kind, '< I confess I was not very well disposed to the Americans, a feeling shared with all my companions on board, and probably, also, with 7nost of 7ny superiors.'^ In order to understand how a midshipman on the Halifax station could pretend to form an opinion of the charac- ter of the people of the United States, it is necessary to gather from other quarters a history of the conduct of the British crui- sers along our coast. In the London <' New Monthly Maga- zine" for August 1829, a gentleman who had been in America many years ago, in the public service of Great Britain, and who has recently made another visit, thus describes their operations: *' You will allow it admits of doubt, whether any coasting 92 skipper, snugly in his birtli, and his schooner at anchor, should think it very pleasant to be ordered on deck, in linen, at the dead hour of a cold night, by a voice such as is much affected by naval officers, particularly by that important class, the mid- shipmen, and before he had time to ascertain if the sound was not that of his vessel rubbing on the ground, to hear the rigging riddled by a platoon of marine musquetry. Nor was it calcu- lated to obtain a good report amongst the Yankees to drag their ships to leeward, bows under, because they could not ansv/er signals with quite as much alacrity as a high-in-order man-of- • war, although it might be done with the kind intention of teaching them to be more adroit. Moreover it was not ob- viously very funny, in a frigate honestly cruising for prizes, when she happened to find herself short of junk, politely to take a slow American in tow, and having got her hawser on board, to draw it in till there was no more to pay out, and then order her to cut and be damned." It is clear that the opinion which a British officer could form of the Americans, under such circumstances, must have been derived from the temper which they evinced in reference to so- galling a species of annoyance. Doubtless, Midshipman Hall,, and the other youngsters, his "companions," could not for- bear to think how their own proud and haughty Island would have acted under similar provocation. Suppose a French, or American, frigate in the Thames or the Mersey, maltreating the " coasting skipper!" The Americans were probably re- garded on board the Leander with a sort of sportive contempt. Yet an incident occurred which could hardly fail to inspire a graver feeling. By a shot from this very Leander poor Pearce was killed. The circumstance is thus noticed in the British Annual Register for 1806, p. 248: '' The third ground of complaint on the part of the Americans was of infinitely less importance than the others, and their demand to have their maritime jurisdiction defined and respected was so just and rea- sonable, that no objection could be made to it. An unfortu- nate accident, in which an American seaman happened to be killed within sight of Neiv York, by a shot from the British armed vessel, the Leander, had drawn attention to this subject, and rendered some regulations indispensable; but no difficulty could occur in settling a point whicii was already settled by the law of nations. The affair of the Leander having taken place during the elections at New York, great use was made of it by the federal party to excite odium against the President, and bring discredit upon his administration, on pretence that foreigners were encouraged to commit such outrages by their knowledge of the loeakness and timidity of his government." Such an incident could hardly fail to sober the levity which before prevailed; and if there be truth in the remark of Tacitus, that it is natural to hate those whom we have injured — 93 *• Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quam Iseserls," we can readily image that a sentiment of dislike might mingle with the unpleasant reminiscences of service on our coast. Yet Contempt must have sometimes struggled for the ascendancy when they recollected what would have been done if a British life had been lost by a shot from an American frigate into a Newcastle collier, within sight of London. Then, again, of- fence was probably taken at our asking that the Captain of the Leander should be tried, as he was, by a naval court-martial. He was acquitted, and we acquiesced. Next year our frigate Chesapeake was attacked by order of the Commander-in-chief of the Halifax station, which was then lying at anchor in Lynn- haven Bay. Many of her seamen were killed and wounded. We now roused ourselves up in earnest, and issued a very wai'm Proclamation. An apology was at length made; but Admiral Berkeley, the offending Officer, so far from being punished, was appointed to the Lisbon station, against the earnest remon- strances of our Minister in London, Mr. Pinckney. Then came the Orders in Council; but it was not until nine hundred and seventeen of our vessels, with their cargoes, had been en- gulfed in the British Prize Courts that our patience gave way. All this time, too, the practice of Impressment was going on from such American vessels a^ were spared to us. Unquestionably, this sort of tameness must have had the ef- fect very much to lower us in the estimation of a dashing young midshipman. Yet Captain Hall represents his temper as having nothing implacable about it. He was willing to forget and for- give. Time and distance did a great deal, '' As the duties," he says, "of a varied service in after years, threw vcio, far from the source at which these national antipathies had been imbibed; they appeared gradually to dissipate themselves in proportion as my acquaintance with other countries was extended, and I had learned to think better of mankind in general^ He had writ- ten books, and become a member of several learned societies, and thus a bland, philosophical spirit gradually soothed the as- perity of the young reefer. He became amongst his late thought- less "companions," a sort of Orator of the Human Race — a naval Anacharsis Cloots. He reasoned, unceasingly, with them about their prejudices. " I came to view with regret the prevalence in others of those hostile sentiments I had vaySf^i relinquished. My next anxiety naturally was to persuade others," &c. If the savages of Loo Choo were so amiable, why might not there be some good points about the Americans? Let them answer that plain question. These Yankees, he would say, are made (in a loose way) after God's image, and may have souls like j'-our- selves. The zeal with which he devoted himself to the propa- gation of this new theory is amazing, when we consider that he was yet in the heyday of life, and was surrounded by all the temptations to frivolous amusements which beset the sailoi* on 9J shore. At length these serious thoughts so exercised his mind, that he resolved on that great step which has made him known to us — his celebrated mission to the West. It must be admitted, on all sides, that there was nothing nar- row in his views. He wished to carry out, as well as to bring back, healing in his wings. But there was a difficulty. He represents the prejudice on this side of the Atlantic as strong and universal. It is a very remarkable circumstance that he does not pretend to have made a single convert in the whole course of his labours. No one's wrath was turned away by his soft words, and even his old companions, of the Leander, seem to have given his eloquence to the winds. Yet it was necessa- ry to have some civil things to say to the Americans, and the object in view being a laudable one, he deemed it justifiable, for a great good, to stretch his conscience a little. He, ac- cordingly, set himself to work, to frame a particular form of expression; and surely no Jesuit could have devised one better calculated to entrap, by seemingly magnificent promises, with- out in the least committing his own countrymen. He deter- mined to represent to the Americans — "That the E)iglish ivere—ivillmg-io think- ^Fe//-of them— If-ihey could-on/y 5ee-;/w*/-grounds for-a Change-oi senti- ment." ^ Now let it be asked, whether a British officer was very cha- ry of his honour in holding out these promises.'' Who autho- rized Captain Hall to give any pledge on the subject, much less to the extent to which he proceeded? He left behind him in England, bitter, uncompromising, prejudice. He does not profess to have had the slightest authority, verbal or written, even from the sea-faring classes with whose sentiments he might be presumed to be best acquainted. And what right had he to suppose that they would quietly resign so cherished a portion of their ideas as these national " antipathies?" Captain Hall knows, as well as any body, that these gentlemen are the very persons, who, like Goldsmith's Croaker, are quite willing to listen to reason, after they have made up their minds, for ^'■then it can do no harm." What! why, after a while they would have no- thing left to damn but their own souls. Mark the cunning of the language prepared for the United States. Fair as the promise is to the ear when rapidly uttered, it vanishes when you do not slur the If and the concluding words. It binds nobody. Should the Americans come into any arrangement with him as to an ar- mistice, and agree to lay down their prejudices, he might laugh in their faces the next moment. The Treaty would be so mucli waste paper without the assent of all the individuals of the British Empire, including the vast body of naval officers, marines, sea- men, ordinary seamen, and boys, scattered all over the world the Lord knows where. Yet into this sort of one-sided compact was Captain Hall's language artfully intended to lead; and a plain* 95 spoken seaman, who was not put on his guard, would realiy take it for granted that he had a regular Power of Attorney. It is, now, our serious business to watch closely the move- ments, language, and even looks of a Witness, who finally comes forward to establish the enmity of the two nations, and who, perpetually, attempts to fortify his testimony by asseverations of candour and fairness. In six weeks after landing at New York, Captain Hall found himself in Canada. It is proper to notice, here, the inaccuracy of the Quarterly Review, in stating, (November 1829, p. 420,) that he '■^ first visited the Northern and Eastern States, then passed into Canada." This is not so. Captain Hall proceed- ed up the Hudson in a steam boat to Albany, and travelled thence to Niagara, never quitting the direct route through the State of New York, except that, from Albany, he went thirty- eight miles to a small, secluded town, in the western part of Massachusetts. Before we permit him to cross into Canada, let us interrogate him as to the materials which he had col- lected for forming an opinion of the United States. And to begin, as Bacon would advise, by negatives. He had not wit- nessed the proceedings of Congress; he had not been present at a meeting of a State legislature. These he, subsequently, represents as the scenes whence his reflections were principally drawn, and as having decided his opinions as to the practical working and tendency of our system of government. He had not seen a Slave. In short, he had encountered none of those circumstances which he would fain make us believe, gradually, threw a cloud over his fair anticipations. On the other hand, on quitting New York, he says, it was difficult to "disentan- gle ourselves from the fascinations of the great city." He had been no less delighted with "the kind friends" he met there, than with the institutions of every description of these "ener- getic people," and with the "hospitable and liberal style," which universally prevailed. The endearing recollection, too, of that "glorious breakfast," which he declares shall brave, these thousand years, the battle and the breeze, was then but a month old — a little month. On the bosom of the Hudson, he missed nothing but Primogeniture. He visited the Peni- tentiaries; and the great New York Canal could ne* fail to make a suitable impression on him. Other scenes which he witnessed are thus described: *' As the windings of the Canal brought us in sight of fresh vistas, new cultivation, new villages, new bridges, new aque- ducts, rose at every moment, mingled up with scattered dwell- ings, mills, churches, all span new. The scene looked really one of enchantment." "On the 19th of June, we reached Syracuse, through the very centre of which the Erie Canal passes. During the drive, we had opportunities of seeing the land in various stages of its 96 progress, from the dense, black, tangled, native, forest, up to the highest stages of cultivation, with wheat and barley waving over it; or from that melancholy, and very hopeless looking state of things, when the trees are laid prostrate upon the earth, one upon top of another, and a miserable log-hut is the only symptom of man's residence, to such gay and thriving places as Syracuse, with fine broad streets, large and commodious houses, gay shops, and stage coaches, wagons, and gigs, flying past, all in a bustle. In the centre of the village, we could see from our windows the canal thickly covered with freight boats and packets, glancing silently past, and shooting like ar- rows through the bridges, some of which were stone, and some of painted wood." *' Every now and then, we came to villages, consisting of several hundred houses; and in the middle, I observed there were always several Churches." *'The village of Utica, stands a step higher in this progres- sive scale of civilization; for it has several Church Spires rising over it, and at no great distance an institution, called Hamilton College, intended, I was told, for the higher branches of sci- ence. We also visited Syracuse, a village with extensive salt- works close to it: and had numerous opportunities of examining the Erie Canal, and the great high-road to Buffalo; so that what with towns and cities, Indians, forests, cleared and cultivated lands, girdled trees, log-houses, painted churches, villas, canals, and manufactories, and hundreds of thousands of human beings, starting into life, all within the ken of one day's rapid journey, there was plenty of stuff for the imagination to work upon." '' Often, too, without much warning, we came in sight of busy villages, ornamented with tall white spires, topping above towers, in which the taste of the villagers had placed green Ve- nitian blinds; and, at the summit of all, handsome gilt weather- cocks glittering and crowing, as it seemed, in triumph over the poor forest." *' Our next halt was at the end of an extremely pretty lake, not quite so large as the two last vve had visited, but still an ex- tensive piece of water. This lake, and the village which stands at the northern extremity, are called Canandaigua. I may re- mark, that the term village, conveys a different idea to us from what it does to an American. The word town would seem more appropriate, as these villages are not composed of cottages clustered together, but of fine houses, divided by wide streets, and embellished by groves of trees and flower gardens. At cer- tain corners of all these villages, or towns, blacksmiths, coopers, and other artisans are to be found; but, generally speaking, the houses at Canandaigua, for instance, have more the appearance of separate country houses, than of mere component parts of a village. In the centre there is always left an open space or market place, with showy hotels on one sidej the court-house 97 on the other; and perhaps a Church, and a Meeting-House, to complete the Square.'' " Canandaigua lies nearly in the centre of Ontario county, a large tract of which was purchased many years ago, I believe in 1790, by some English gentlemen, who paid about five cents an acre for it, or about two pence halfpenny. Great part of it has since been sold at prices varying from one and two dollars, to ten, and even twenty dollars. '^ *' In the meantime, we had abundant ocular demonstration of the respect paid to the subject of Religion; for scarcely a single village, however small, was without a Church." " On the 26th of June, 1827, we strolled through the village of Rochester, under the guidance of a most obliging and intel- ligent friend, a native of this part of the country. Every thing in this bustling place appeared to be in motion. The very streets seemed to be starting up of their own accord, ready made, and looking as fresh and new, as if they had been turned out of the workmen's hands but an hour before; or that a great boxful of new houses had been sent by steam from New York, and tum- bled out on the half-cleared land. The canal banks were at some places still unturfed: the lime seemed hardly dry in the mason- ry of the aqueduct, in the bridges, in the numberless great saw- mills and manufactories. In many of these buildings, the peo- ple were at work below stairs, while at top the carpenters were busy nailing on the planks of the roof." " Some dwellings were half painted, while the foundations of others, within five yards distance, were only beginning. I can- not say how many churches, court-houses, jails, and hotels, I counted, all in motion, creeping upwards. Several streets were nearly finished, but had not yet received their names; and many others were in the reverse predicament, being named, but not commenced, their local habitations being merely signified by lines of stakes. Here and there we saw great warehouses, with- out window sashes, but half filled with goods, and furnished with hoisting cranes, ready to fish up the huge pyramids of flour barrels, bales, and boxes lying in the streets. In the centre of the town, the spire of a Presbyterian Church rose to a great height, and, on each side of the supporting tower, was to be seen the dial plate of a clock, of which the machinery, in the hurry-skurry, had been left at New York. I need not say, that these half-finished, whole finished, and embryo streets were crowded with people, carts, stages, cattle, pigs, far beyond the reach of numbers; and as all these were lifting up their voices together, in keeping with the clatter of hammers, the ringing of axes, and the cracking of machinery, there was a fine concert, I assure you!" " But it struck us, that the interest of the town, for it seems idle to call it a village, was subordinate to that of the suburbs. IS 98 A few years ago, the whole of that part of the country was cO' vered with a dark, silent forest, and even as it was, we could not proceed a mile in any direction, except that of the high road, without coming full-butt against the woods of time imme- morial" " Lockport, is celebrated over the United States as the site of a double set of canal locks, admirably executed, side by side, five in each, one for boats going up, the other for those coming down the canal. The original level of the rocky table land about Lockport is somewhat, though not much, higher than the sur- face of Lake Erie, from which it is distant, by the line of the canal, about thirty miles. In order to obtain the advantage of having such an inexhaustible reservoir as Lake Erie for a feeder to the canal, it became necessary to cut down the top of the ridge on which Lockport stands, to bring the canal level somewhat below that of the lake. For this purpose, a magnificent exca- vation, called the Deep Cutting, several miles in length, with an average depth of twenty-five feet, was made through a compact, horizontal limestone stratum, a work of great expense and la- bour, and highl}' creditable to all parties concerned." " The Erie Canal is 363 miles in length, 40 feet wide at the surface, 28 at bottom, and four feet deep. There are 83 locks of masonry, each 90 feet long, by 15 wide. The elevation of Lake Erie above the Hudson, at Albany, is about 555 feet; but the lockage up and down on the whole voyage is 662 feet." Yet, amidst all these scenes, the only reflection which escapes from Captain Hall is a denunciation of the "blighting tempest of democracy," for having done away with Primogeniture and Entails. At this early period, too, he detects '' a wish, when asking for information, to prove my original and prejudiced con- ceptions right, [forgetting, we presume, his efforts, in England, to "persuade others," to abandon prejudices "I had myself re- linquished,"] rather than to discover that I had previously done the people injustice." He here introduces, also, a sort of elegy on a dead tree, evidently for the mere purpose of venting his spleen at what he deems the heartlessness of hnprovement. " An American settler can hnrdly conceive the horror with which a foreigner beholds such numbers of magnificent trees standing round him, ivith their throats cut, the very Banquos of the murdered forest. The process of girdling is this: — a circular cut or ring, two or three inches deep, is made with an axe quite round the tree, at about five feet from the ground. This, of course, puts an end to vegetable life; and the destruc- tion of the tree being accelerated by the action of fire, these wretched trunks in a year or two, present the most miserable objects of decrepitude that can be conceived. The purpose, however, of the farmer is gained, and that is all he can be ex- pected to look to. His corn crop is no longer overshaded by 99 the leaves of these unhappy trees, which, in process of time, are cut down and split into railings, or sawed into billets of fretvood, and their misery is at an eiid." Surely, however natural, and even laudable, it may be to cul- tivate an almost superstitious reverence for large trees in Scot- land, where their scarcity induced Dr. Johnson to despair of re- covering " so valuable a piece of timber," as his lost cudgel, yet Captain Hall ought to have gone to x\merica better prepared to command his feelings. Even in England, Gray, — the most sensitive of poets, — thought this '* cutting of throats," a not unpleasing rural image. "How bowed the woods, beneath theh sturdy stroke." Viewing the above as a specimen of the tourist's more ambi- tious style, — on which he has evidently put forth his whole strength, — we may remark, that it falls far short of the cele- brated passage which he evidently had in his eye when penning it. The transition is too abrupt from the rutting down to the ter- mination of the misery, without noticing the intermediate stages of pain and degradation. Swift has managed the matter much better and deduced a fine moral lesson. " This single stick which you now behold ingloriously lying in that neglected corner, I once knew in a flourishing state in a forest; it was full of sap, full of leaves, and full of boughs, but now, &c.," '■^ at length worn to the stumps in the service of the maids, it is either thrown out of doors, or condemned to the last one of kindhng a fire. When I beheld this, I sighed, and said within myself, surely man is a broomstick. Nature sent him into the world strong and lusty, in a thriving condition, wearing his own hair on his head, the proper branches of this reasoning vegetable, until the axe of intemperance, &c." (Me- ditations on a Broomstick.) But Captain Hall begins to snuff the air of Canada, and can- not be longer detained. *'We found ourselves once more in his Majesty's dominions, after having passed six weeks in the United States." His joy is tumultuous. "The air we breathed seemed different — the sky, the land, the whole scenery appeared to be altered." It is impossible to avoid some misgivings at the burst of delight with which he thus hails his escape. It seems to be of evil omen as to the feeling with which we may expect him to re-enter the close air of the republic. At Niagara, he expresses, in terms adequately inflated, his admiration of the Falls. We feel more interested, and alarmed, at his very minute advice to the proprietor of Goat Island, which almost impends terrifically over the cataract, viz. — " To make a gravel ivalk all round the island, broad enough for three per- sons to walk abreast; to open little paths in the direction of the best situations for seeing the Falls, and having put down half-a- 100 dozen commodious seals at the said points, to leave all tiie rest to the choice of the worthy tourists themselves." (Vol. i. p. 192.) Should the proprietor ever Jill one item of this uphol- stering order, we sincerely hope that he may be thrown over the cataract by an indignant community. Doubtless Captain Hall would make these " commodious" seats out of the great fallen black oak! He witnessed, also, the operations at the proposed Welland Canal, and finding " all the locks constructed of wood," re- marks, " It always struck me that the locks on the Erie or New York Canal, might have been advantageously made, in like man- ner, of timber." Much caution, we fear, is necessary in listen- ing to our tourist's advice, whether it relate to primogeniture, entails, or wooden locks. Mr. M'Taggart, civil engineer, in- spected these works three months before Captain Hall was there, and in his recent work, remarks, (vol. ii. p. 162,) *' This report was not very well received by the shareholders, but they were quite unable to deny any of its statements, they tvould work away as they had done, regardless of my remarks, and had the felicity of observing some of their wooden locks float down before the freshets, like large bird cages, into Lake Ontario." On the 16th July, 1827, they left the Falls, and proceeded by land through Canada, as far as Kingston on the St. Lawrence. The equipage is thus described: — " For want of a better con- veyance we were obliged to travel in a vehicle, dignified by the name of a wagon, but which, in fact, was neither more nor less than a good, honest, rattling, open cart." On the third day, '^ the axletree gave way, and down we came on our broadside. A dwelling was near at hand, but upon trying the doors they were found all locked." He adds, pathetically, "There we were left in the middle of a Canadian forest, at night-fall, sur- rounded by swamps, sonorous with innumerable bull frogs, and by an atmosphere clogged with noxious vapours, and clouded with moschetoes." At length they got "again in motion;, though in a still less magnificent conveyance, literally a common two-wheeled farm-cart, with nothing but a bimch of straw to break the violence of the jolts." He speaks thus of the road from Credit River to York: — '* Being formed of the trunks of trees, laid cross ways, without any coating of earth or stones, it was more abominably jolty than aqy thing a European imagina- tion can conceive. Over these horrible wooden causeways, tech- nically called corduroy roads, it would be misery to travel in any description of carriage; but in a wagon or cart, with nothing but wooden springs, it is most trying to every joint in one's body." In the ox-cart, and over such roads, they entered York the capital of Upper Canada. As they left this place next morn- ing, the 19th, we presume that after the joltings of the corduroy roads, beside a "minute" examination of an Indian village. 101 through which they had passed, they could have had little time or spirits for a survey of the Capital. We are constrained, there- fore, from the Captain's total silence, to pause for a moment in order to introduce to the reader information from another quar- ter, which will be deemed, at least, equally trustworthy; viz. Mr. Talbot's **Five Years' Residence in Canada," published in London in 1824, a work to which we shall again have occasion to refer. He will scarcely be excepted to on the ground of any hostile political bias, for he informs us that he chose Canada as a residence in preference to the United States, because he was unwilling to " become a subject of a country avowedly hostile to that in which his family had for many centuries flourished in the sunshine of British protection — to separate himself for ever from British institutions, and British laws, and to be compelled to teach his little children the political creed of a republic, for which he could himself never feel a sentiment of attachment;" and he professes to be well satisfied with his selection. This gentleman states the number of souls in York to be 1336, and adds, " He who first fixed upon this spot as the site of the ca- pital of Upper Canada, whatever predilection he may have had for the roaring of frogs, or for the effluvia arising from stagnated waters and putrid vegetables, can certainly have had no very great regard for preserving the lives of his Majesty's subjects." On the 19th, they visited a place called Holland's Landings " to witness the annual distribution of presents, as they are called, made by Government to the Indians." Here they stayed all night, and the Captain, though we cannot divine his motive,^ seems to have inventoried the furniture of the house in which he slept with all that minuteness which would be so commend- able had he been seizing it, as a sworn officer, under a landlord's warrant. There was, in brief, "plenty" of it; it was *' com- fortable" and "handsome," and "chiefly of the bird's-eye ma- ple." The house may be recognised hereafter, by any future traveller, as "a most agreeable" one, and as being "surrounded by a large flower garden, intersected in all directions by well- shaded gravel and turf walks." His next sentence "spindles into longitude immense," well corresponding with its excursive character, for its object is to state that from one of the apart- ments, " a single step placed us in a verandah, as wide as the room itself, bounded in front, and at both ends by trellis-work, so thickly twined with hop vines, that the sun, and that sli/l inore troublesome intruder, the blazing glare of a red hot sky, had no chance for admission, while the breeze from the gar- den easily made its way, perfumed and tempered like the suU try loinds of Hindostan, after passing those ingenious, ar- tijicial mattings, called tatties, formed of sweet scented grass, and suspended dripping loet before the doors andtvin" dows, during the heat of the day, in the hotter parts of In' dia,'' On the 20th, we presume they made out to get back to 102 York, as on the 21st, they start thence for Kingston. On quit- ting the Capital they were disposed to laugh at the awful ac- counts given of the roads, "supposing that the previous journey between the Credit River and York, had broken us in for any high-ways and by-ways we were likely to encounter again. In process of travelling, however, as the daylight faded, our hopes subsided. The clear and airy country w^as exchanged for close, choky woods; the horrible corduroy roads again made their ap- pearance in a more formidable shape, by the addition of deep, inky holes, which almost swallowed up, &c." "I shall not compare this evening's drive to trotting up or down a pair of stairs, for in that case there would be some kind of regularity in the developnient of the bumps, but with us there was no warning — no pause." Nor were their perils merely those by land, on this first day's journey from the Capital. " On reach- ing the spot lohere a bridge once stood, but stood no longer, we observed a little boy paddling in a canoe." With the aid of the boy they got over, " one at a time," and " the horse was towed across secundum artem, by the nose — an operation of some delicacy, both to actors and spectators." The carriage was dragged across; "but the united strength of all the party, males and females, old and young, combined, could not budge it more than a foot out of the water." At length, by an ingenious con- trivance, it was drawn " triumphantly to land." But the effort had exhausted them. " We reached our sleeping place fatigued to the last gasp.^^ Next day, 22nd July, they arrived at Co- burg, distant " forty-three miles, in thirteen hours, of as rough travelling as ever was performed by wheeled carriage." On the way they fell in with a field preacher, " a tall, sallow, anxious- looking man, of the Methodist persuasion, as we were informed, dressed in a loose surtout coat, of a purple colour, with a yellow silk handkerchief tied round his head." Captain Hall remarks, " In those luild regions, where no toivns, and not many vil- lages are yet to be found, places of regular worship are neces- sarily ' few and far between,' and these itinerant preachers, in spite of some occasional extravagancies, must, upon the ivhole-, do good." He speaks of "that large class of persons in the country through which we were travelling, many of whom, but for such occasions as these, ivould otherwise be left altogether without jjublic worship. For we can easily believe that in the midst of the woods, where the population are employed all the week long at hard labour, and the neighbourhood is but scantily settled, there can be very little or none of that example, or that public opinion, which are found so efficacious elsewhere to encourage good morals, and to check bad habits. Under such circumstances there will, almost of necessity, be little at- tention paid to these duties, which ought to be paramount to all others, but which often require, unfortunately, most encou- ragement and assistance, where the means of lending such aids i03 are smallest. Every thing, therefore, which stimulates people to come together expressly for such a purpose— wo matter how absurd the manner may sometimes he in which the service is conducted — must prove beneficial." Mr. Talbot, also, laments this state of things, and gives ^^ a few practical illustrations of Canadian morality, and of the prox- imate causes of the grossness of manners^ and of the semi-har- barism, v/hich are much too prevalent." Mr. Huskisson, whilst Colonial Secretary, remarked, in the House of Commons, as to the inattention to Education in Canada. " This is a sijbject never thought of. In point of fact, the state of things is suth, that the settlers feel more disposed to connect themselves with those districts which border on the United States, where they can better have their ivants of this description supplied, and receive the benefits of the administration of justice, than to remain in the country to which they owe allegiance.'' (Debate of 182S.) On the 23d July, 1S27, they proceeded to visit the Settlement, formed by the Irish Emigrants, sent to Canada, by the British Government, in 1825. The distance, thirty miles, was got over in sixteen hours and a half, and they reached the newly erected village of Peterborough, " more dead than alive with fatigue." His ever active mind this day suggests a valuable idea on the subject of harness. " When we had got half way, the wagon broke down; but fortunately it was in our power to repair the mischief, by knotting a couple of silk handkerchiefs together, which, by the by, on such occasions, make a very good rope.'' He dwells much on the settlement, and considers the experiment to have proved very successful. '' Tliere were 2024 settlers sent by Government, in 1825, at the total cost of 24/. 5s. ■id., per head, each family being supplied with provisions for fifteen months, and a hundred acres of land, besides a cow, and other minor aids." His information was derived from the Officers of the Establishment, from the owners of property in the neigh- bourhood, and from some of the emigrants. A conversation with one of the last is sufficiently characteristic. " The Agent happened one day to meet an old man in the village, and know- ing him to be a shrewd person, and well-informed upon all that had passed, he thought his conversation might serve my pur- poses. He, therefore, said to the emigrant, that a gentleman had arrived, who wished to put some questions to him. The old boy immediately took alarm, lest, as he said, the gentleman had come to interfere with his property, or to bother him in some way he did know what. ' What shall I say to the gen- tleman, sir?' was his first question. 'Why, Cornelius,' said the Agent, ' tell the truth.' ' Oh! yes, sir, I know that very well, of course, we must always tell the truth, but if I only knew what the gentleman wanted, I would know which way 104 to answer.^ * I don't know what you mean, Cornelius,' said the Agent. *0h! sir, you know quite well what I mean. Should I overstate matters, sir, or should I understate them? Shall I make things appear better or ivorse than they are?^'^ It is amusing to note how soon this shrewd old Irishman fa- thomed our Captain. The latter had just spoken before of its being "a principal object," that the emigrants should " turn out loyal and grateful subjects of their king." He is not a moment in conversation with the old man, before Cornelius breaks out, "^'Oh! yes! to be sure I am! we owe every thing in the world to the Government — that is, to the king, his majesty, long life to him!" Another of these "odd fellows," caught, in a mo- ment, at the Captain's foible, as a Scotchm'^n, — his admiration of large trees. '* I stood for some time admiring it, and think- ing what a pity it was that such a glorious tree should be felled to the earth, and still more, that it should be afterwards chopped up and burnt along with vulgar pine logs." He entreats the owner to spare it. " Very well, sir! very well! it shall be yours from this moment; and if you will give me leave it shall bear your name! and a fence shall be put round it! and while I have breath in my body there it shall stand, you may be sure, and even after me, if my children will respect their father's wishes. Do you hear thaty boys?'' The Captain complacent- ly adds, " I have since received a letter from a friend in that quarter of the ivorld, in Vv'hich the following passage occurs: "'I have been over to see the good folks at Peterborough and Douro, since you left us. Your visit there with JNIrs. Hall, is held in the most pleasing recollection; and Welsh, the Irish emi- grant, vows eternal vengeance against any one that shall dare tc do the least injury to Captain Hall's oak!''' Surely the savages of Loo Choo deserve little credit for hav- ing quizzed our tourist so egregiously as it seems to be now ad- mitted they did. Human felicity is, at best, imperfect. Thus, it leaks out with regard to these Settlers: " zy there had been any thing inju- dicious, it consisted in giving people, accustomed to very scanty fare, too ample an allowance of food. This over indulgence^ not only hurt the health of the people, but tended in some de- gree to slacken the individual exertions of the settlers to main- tain themselves." One of Captain Hall's correspondents says, (vol. i. p. 335,) ''From observa.tion, 1 think the Government did too much for those already out, and still the committee pro- pose to do too much for any that may be sent out; they are not left to find resource from their own industry and energy. While the rations last, many of the emigrants make little exer- tion, and dispose of food they have not been used to, such as pork,ybr whiskey, thereby injuring their constitutions and mo- rals, and fixing for a time habits of idleness." Another speak- 105 ing of the Irish, generally, remarks, " Douro settlers are, at present, all Irish, and though doing very well, yet from their former indolent habits they have not exerted themselves as much as they might, being addicted to ^king a little too much whis- key, and, by doing so, lose a great deal of time. A thousand arguments might be produced in favour of mixing English and Scots settlers, with the Irish here, not so much for their mode of farming, as from the good example they would give of so- briety, regularity, morality, and steadiness; not fond of visii- ing, card-j)laying, carousing, or party spirit Great benefits would arise from a number of Scots emigrnnts being introduced amongst the Irish. Tiiey are proverbial for good conduct," &c. The benefits confsrred by this Settlement upon the "gentle- men in the neighbourhood," on whose testimony Captain Hall greatly relies, may be judged of by a passage in a letter from one of them, (vol. i. p. 319,} in which he declares, that he was about to abandon the neighbourhood, when *• Mr. P. Robinson came to my house, and mentioned to me his intention of bring- ing up the emigrants, to these back townships. At once we gave up every idea of removing, the clouds dispersed, all our difficulties seemed to be over.'''' The account which the same person gives of his previous troubles is sufficiently pitiable. Some kind friends had, it seems, pi'epared the " nevv abode" of himself and family, in the woods, but " there was no partition put up; even on the floors, the boards were scarcely sufficient to prevent the children's feet from going through. When wc set about to prepare our beds we found the floor covered above an inch thick with ice, of which we removed as much as we colild with axes and spades, and then put a layer of chips and shavings, upon which we spread our mattresses and blankets; then, having hung up some blankets at the doors, and also for partitions, we lay down to rest, being pretty well fatigued; and, upon looking upwards from our beds, we saw the sky through the roof, and have often during the time we lay in that manner, amused ourselves watching the stars passing, and others reap- pearing." The snow, at this period of star-gazing, was, he as- serts, "nearly knee deep." He was on the point of being burnt out in consequence of the fashion of building chimneys with cross sticks, plastered with clay; " but this had been built in se- vere frost, so that the clay did not adhere, and the sticks caught fire." For food, they " were glad to gather any wild plants which we were told could be safely used as greens. " " We have often used tea made of the young shoots of the hemlock pine." ** I have gone out with my ox-team, and a man io forage, (vol. i. p. 317,) and after travelling an entire day, returned with a cou- ple of sheep that had not a pound of fat upon them, a little pork, and a few fowls, and when crossing the river just ne.ir my house, have been near losing the whole cargo, by the strong current." 14 106 *' My wife was confined, and I had to send fifteen miles for a nurse-tender, who reached us with much difficulty, as she was obliged to walk through woods where no road had ever been cut, and to be carried sometimes across swamps, and lifted over large logs." No wonder the poor man was rejoiced, when Mr. Peter Robinson came at last to deliver the whole family. We are very far from wishing to go into the history of this Irish Settlement as disclosed in the Parliamentary Documents. Our object has, merely, been to exhibit Captain Hall's powers in the weighing of testimony, and the eagerness with which he listened to clamorous professions of " loyalty," on the part of those, who, from his own showing, were ready to go into the other extreme, had they discovered a wish that matters should be "understated." The interest of the Agent and the other Officers, who have charge of these out-pensioners of Great Bri- tain, in representing the project as successful, and as claiming the farther countenance of the Government, is obvious. The Settler to whom the Agent referred Captain Hall for informa- tion made rather an Irish blunder, it is true; but what do we un- derstand by his telling that officer to his face, that he " knew very well," what was meant by asking for a cue as to oversta- ting or understating? We need not, surely, remark on the mo- tives of the people in the neighbourhood for wishing to keep up an establishment, which not only had brought settlers amongst them, and caused an enormous disbursement of public money, but whose continuance led every day to an increase of these comfortable incidents. Yet on such testimony, our tourist makes this flourishing assertion, " The universal satisfaction expressed by these people is creditable to the Statesman, I believe Mr. Wilmot Horton, who devised the experiment, to Mr. Peter Ro- binson, by whose skill and patience it was carried through its many difficulties, and, also, to the good sense, moderation, and industry of the poor emigrants themselves." Captain Hall's opportunities of forming an opinion may be judged of from the length of his stay, — a fact, by the way, which it requires us to look very closely into his book to ascertain. If, indeed, we could believe him capable of a paltry artifice, there would seem an anxiety that this fact should not be readily discoverable. He abandons, suddenly, the form of journalizing, and the day ot the month disappears for sixty pages. He says, *' I went during my stay as much as possible amongst the set- tlers, frequerdly alone, sometimes with the agent, and several times with the clergyman. 1 had, also, many opportunities of conversing ' 'ith gentlemen, &c." In speaking of his conversa- tion with " Cornelius," he prefaces it by saying, (p. 286, vol. i. ) The Agent happened one day to meet an old man in the village, and knowing him to be a shrewd person," &c. Far- ther on, (pw 290,) he says. "On the 24th of July, I took a 107 iong ride," &c. Now it would scarcely occur to the reader after what had gone before, unless he watched narrowly, that this very 24th July, was in fact, the only day that the Captain had an opportunity of seeing the Settlement Yet such is the fact. He reaches the place on the night of the 23rd, *' more dead than alive," (p. 280-281. On the 24th, he takes a long ride, (p. 290.) On the next day, 25th, he " intended to have resumed these researches, but, it rained so violently, that we were confined most of the morning within doors. About noon it cleared up: but the paths cut by the settlers through the fo- rest, were now mostly covered with water, and rendered so slip- pery and clammy, that walking ivas scarcely possible. Every bough that was touched, sent down such a shower of drops that I got soundly ducked, before reaching a shanty in the thicket, where I found a hardy fellow," &c. This hardy fellow is the one on whose premises " Captain Hall's oak" stands, and it is apparent, that his examination was not farther pursued, but that he returned to guard against the consequences of his sound duck- ing. Then occurs a long and deceiving space filled with letters, &c. until we reach p. 347. He arrived at Kingston on the 28th, (p. 349.) His intermediate movements are thus traced. It had occupied the whole of the 23d, starting early and arriving late, to reach the settlement from Coburg. The return journey must have been on the 26th, and it took at least as much time; for the vehicle broke down twice, (p. 347,) and they had to waik six miles, (ib.).. " In the course of the next morning," 27th, (ib.) they meet witir a disaster whilst travelling by land. At the Bay of Quinte, they took the water, and on the 2Sth, reached Kingston, (p. 349.) Thus, as we have said, Captain Hall enjoyed but a single day's observation, and yet a cursory reader could hardly fail to be mis- led by the confusing circumstances to which we have referred, and, in particular, by the leisurely lounging way, in which he speaks of meeting, " one day," a very shrewd settler. The ques- tion then, becomes one of Hours. We must bear in mind that the Captain is a very late riser (vol. i. p. 399;) he has no idea of getting up with " the stupid eocks who have nothing else to do but crow." (ib.) He must take his breakfast before starting, (p. 400,) and that meal with him is a " long desultory sort of" one (p. 401.) Af- ter breakfast he must be allowed time to "think of shaving" (ib.) before he can make up his mind to that important operation. He defends his system on Epicurean principles, and is of opinion that " We leisurely travellers, who despise and abhor the idea of getting over the stage before breakfast^ in the end io do just as much as your early stirring folks; with this difference, that we make the journey a pleasure — they, a toil." (p. 399.) It must be recollected, also, that he had reached the Irish set- tlement, the night before, " more dead than alive with fa- tigue,"(p. 281) — an apology for even unusual indulgence. Sup- 108 posing, however, our Captain fairly in the field on the 24th, a great deal of time is to be deducted before we can arrive at any thing like a true estimate of the portion of it devoted to the Irish settlers. Thus, on the same day, he visited "several older es- tablishments, "(p. 290,) at one of which he found " an old Scotchman, from Banff, with a jolly red nose, in shape and co- lour like the sweet potatoe of that country, a prosing old body, xvho brightened up, however, amazingly, when I told him where I came from, and I had much ado to escape a sound dose of whis- key which he wished to force upon me for countryman's sake." He went, also, to Smith'sTown, "an establishment of emigrants of nine years' standing." If we subtract, farther, the necessa- ry time for meals, from which Captain Hall will not be drawn for love or money, we may be able to judge of the opportunity he enjoyed of forming an opinion vvith regard to a Settlement of Two Thousand and Twenty-Four persons " scattered over an extensive district of country," ''(p. 285.) Judging of this Settlement from other sources of information, we are led to believe the Captain's impressions to be as errone- ous as they were hastily formed. Mr. Southey, in his recent Colloquies, after referring minutely to the Parliamentary Docu- ments, considers it to have " failed as to its primary purpose," and in reference to the numbers who have " availed themselves of the assistance of the parishes, or of the State, only for the sake of a passage, at the public expense, to this promised land," (the United States,) he adds, '• I do not see how any suclucon- sideration should affect the policy of the government with re- gard to what is deemed its surplus population, unless it were by directing its emigrants rather to South Africa and Australia, than to its North American possessions." Captain Hall him- self, in returning from Canada to the United States, says, pee- vishly, that there was on board the Steam-boat, "a large party of Irish emigrants, who, for reasons best known to themselves, had not chosen to settle in Canada, but to «fj««flfer farther south in quest of fortune." In a yet more recent work, ("Three Years in Canada, by John M'Taggart, Civil Engineer," (vol. ii. p. 248,) we find the following remarks: — " Let some plan, therefore, be found to keep these people in bread at home; and I think it is possible to find out one. Perhaps I may be considered too severe on this subject, and were I not speaking from practical experience the accuracy of my statements might be doubted. Tlie Irish land- holder and the philanthropist are also its advocates; the first, be- cause it tends to rid his unfortunate country of a portion of its misery; the second, for the same reason, with this addition; that while ii weeds misery out of Ireland, it does not plant it in Ca- nada — which is not the fact, for it does plant it there, and in a more melancholy point of view." Nothing remarkable happened to the Captain on his passage 109 from the Irish settlement to Kingston, except that the lives of his party were saved on one occasion by " the skill and promp- titude" of an American (^i^ Jonathan,") who arrested the vehicle when in a predicament that " had nearly proved fatal." At Kingston he took up his quarters in the Dock-yard, and " did scarcely any thing else but. eat, drink, and sleep, till the 30th of July." He then returned, by water, to Niagara, and reached Kingston again, by the same mode of Conveyance, on the 3d of August, and, -ifter making an excursion across the Lake to the American shore, embarked in a batteau to descend the St. Lawrence. He reached Brockville next day, and at- tended a public dinner, and made a Speech, and, thanks to the vanity of the orator, he has not been able to resist the tempta- tion of inserting it. This precious piece of eloquence not only discloses the temper which he really cherished towards the United States, but answers, incidentally, another purpose. He is very anxious to impress on us, the idea that he is one of your blunt, plain-spoken, people, who are under a sort of con- stitutional inability to despise their offensive sentiments, — one who, though a sailor, " would not flatter Neptune for his tri- dent." We have seen what had fallen under his observation in Canada. We recollect his regret that there was " little or none of that example, or that public opinion which are found so efficacious, elsewhere, to encourage good morals and check bad habits." The only religious worship he witnessed was in the woods, where he heard a field preacher, whose clerical garb was " a loose surtout coat, of a purple colour, with a yellow silk handkerchief tied round his head," and he hopes, in the ab- sence of any thing better, that the CNhortations of even these " itinerant preachers must do good in spite of some occasional extravagancies." We proceed to the Speech. Its leading 2(nd anxious object is to deride the notion of " In- dependence," as inconsistent with the mutual aid and support which are involved in our relations political, social, and domes- tic: •' For my part I consider that no thoroughly independent man is worth a Jig.^' There was something striking in this exordium, and the orator says, complacently, " Here My Speech was interrupted by an ambiguous sort of laugh, and I could see n puzzled expression playing on the countenances of many of my audience.'" After speaking of the ruinous consequences to himself, if he should foolishly "take it into his head, like Tom Thumb, to swear he would be a Rebel, and decline his Majesty's farther employment," he remarks, " I fear you might say I meant to be personal, if I were to make out any analogy between the ab- surd looking case I have just put, and that of England and the Canadas. But as there is a more apposite illustration near at hand, I shall say no more than beg you will study it for your edification.^* He proceeds, " It has been my good fortune to no visit many countries, and to see governments of all known de- nominations, and all a^es; from that of China, which has ex- isted as it stands for some thousands of years, to that of Peru, of which I witnessed the very birth, — and a queer looking political baby it was! It has also fallen in my way to see another de- scription of infant, which, as you well know, was of age on the day it was born, but whether it has grown older or younger, strotiger or iveaker, by time, I leave you to judge. Amongst all these different countries I have seen very few which unite so many advantages as Canada, where the soil, the climate, and what is vastly more valuable, the public G'^vernment, and the tone of private manners[\] are so well calculated to advance the happiness of m nkind. You are not yet so unfortunate as to be independent of England, in the ordinary acceptation of the term — neither is she of you; but you are much better off." We would ask if there can be discovered, in all this, the slightest reference to that great purpose for which Captain Hall represents himself to have undertaken this Tour? He has re- marked, (vol. ii. p. 343,) " To assert, for instance, that such a country as America could be fairly judged of in six weeks, would be more absurd than to say that justice could not be done to it in six years." Yet after a period of observation so short that it would be absurd to draw any inference from it, he is found hold- ing up the United States to derision — and declaring plainly that they had — as a warning — retrograded in consequence of pos- sessing the power of self-government. The object which he had at heart was " to soften in some degree the asperity of that ill will of which it was impossible to deny the existence, and which was looked upon by many persons, in both countries, as a se- rious international evil." He declares, " I was really desirous of seeing every thing relating to the people, country, and i?i- stitutio7is, in the m^ost favourable light; and was resolved to represent to my countrymen what was good in colours, which might incline them to think," &c. Yet on the first opportuni- ty which he enjoys of addressing British subjects — and those, too, who are in immediate contact with Americans — all his powers of sarcasm are employed to render odious and ridiculous, what it pleases him to treat as characteristic of their neighbours. He asks his hearers to thank God that they are not so " unfor- tunate," as to be in the same predicament with ourselves. And this is stated as the result of his personal observation: *' It has fallen in my way to see, &lc." Let us recollect, too, what Cap- tain Hall has told us of the workings of his own mind, (vol. i. p. 167:) " The melancholy truth is, that when oncewe express any opinions, especially if we use strong terms for that purpose, a sort o( parental fondness springs up for the offspring of our lips, and we are ready to defend them for no better reason than because we gave them birth. Travellers, therefore, and others, should be cautious how they bring such a fine family of opinions Ill into the world, which they can neither maintain respectably, nor get rid of without a certain degree of inconsistency^ generally painful, and sometimes ridiculous." Will he be pleased to ex- plain, how he could have expressed an opinion, in *' terms" more *' strong" than housed in ibis speech? His sarcasm covers all that is peculiar in our condition, and he declares that pecu- liarity to be a curse. Strike the Revolution from our History, and we are in the situation of Canada.* What would the pro- vincial Attorney-General and his other friends think of the con- sistency of Captain Hall, had they found in his volumes aught in praise of any of those particulars in which the people of the United States differ from them? And this is the person who, in publishing a Book, which ministers to the jealousy and con- tempt he is thus found exciting, holds the following language: — *' The reluctance with which I now take up my pen to trace the gradual destruction of my best hopes on the subject, is most sincere, and such as nothing short of a conviction of its being a duty to my own country could overcome." Let us be understood. It may be no crime in Captain Hall to magnify the advantages of Canada. Many people applaud Serjeant Kite's readiness at oath-taking, *' give me the book — 'tis for the good of the Service." Speaking of the addition of Canada to the United States, he declares, it would be a matter of serious consequence to England to find the naval resources of the United States trebled, if not quadrupled, at a blow." He considers these Colonies not only " useful as nominal de- pendencies, but, in a negative point of view — as politically de- tached from the United States — even still more valuable to us.'' "It seems to be a pretty general opinion that there are only two alternatives for Canada — one is to remain in connexion with the mother country — the other, to merge into the Mare Magnum of the American Confederacy." "Nothing but our own indiscretion can ever urge them to court a union with any other power. The cards, to use a conrmon expression, are com- pletely in our hands, and we have only to play them well." All the expenditures on Canada, he is of opinion, " are amply over- balanced by the advantages derived from this connexion, whe- ther they directly advance our commercial and political prosperi- ty, as a naval and manufacturing country, or whether they li9nit the maritime power of another nation not very friendly to ours.'' It is quite natural that under the influence of such a feel- ing, he should be disposed to flatter up the Canadians as to the great blessings they enjoy, and the state of their manners; and to represent the United States to them in the most odious point of view, politically and socially. But we do complain that whilst from the beginning to the end of his book, he is seen under the unlimited influence of this miserable, peevish jealousy, he should put on the air of a philosopher — a citizen of the world — and re- 11-2 present himself as actuated throughout by an anxious wish to ex- hibit every thing in the United States in the most favourable light. After employing such language as A'e have quoted in the Canada part of his book, there is to us something very con- temptible in his introducing such a declaration as the following, into that allotted to the United States: — " For my own part, I see no limits to this, and should rejoice with all my heart, if America were as far advanced in literature, in science, in mili- tary and naval knoivledqe, in taste, in the fine arts, in manu- factures, in commerce — in short, in every thing, as any part of Europe," It is presumed that the English reader must have expected to find in these volumes some information with regard to the com- plaints which have been heard from Canada. Mr. Huskisson, the Secretary for the Colonial Department, in the Debate of 182S declares that the Canadas were " under a system of civil government not adapted to their wants, well being, nor happi- ness, nor to maintain their allegiance, nor preserve their atfec- tion and good understanding with the mother rountry." He also refers to the circumstance of the Governor " having appro- priated the revenue, without the sanction of an act of the le- gislature, as required bylaw." In the same Debate, Sir James Macintosh, said, that he had presented " a petition signed by eighty-seven thousand of the inhabitants of Canada, compre- hending among its numbers, nine-tenths of the heads «f fa- milies in the Province, and more than two-thirds of its landed proprietors," and shows, that " the petitioners had the gravest causes of complaint against the administration of the govern- ment of the Colony." Sir James farther says, " The Govern- ment of Quebec, despising these considerations, has been long engaged in a scuffle with the peeple, and has thought hard words, and hard blows, .lot inconsistent with its dignity. I observe that twenty-one bills were passed by the Lower House of As- sembly, 1S27, most of them reformatory. Of these, 7iot one ivas appt'oved of by the Upper House. Is the Governor res- ponsible for this? i answer he is. The Council is nothing bet- ter than the tool of the government. U is not a fair and consti- tutional check between the popular assembly and the governor; but it is the governor's council. The counsellors are all crea- tures of the governor; and they sit in council, not to examine the bills sent to them, but to concur in the acts of the Governor. Of these counsellors, consisting of twenty-seven gentlemen — seventeen hold places under the government at pleasure. These seventeen divide amongst them, fifteen thousand pounds of the public money, which is not a small sum, in a country where one thousand pounds a year is a large income for a country gentle- man. I omit the bishop, who is perhaps rather inclined to autho- rity, but of a pacific character. The nine remaining counsel- 113 lors were worn out by opposing the seventeen, and at present have withdrawn from attending its deliberations." The tourist has forborne, for a very curious reason, to give lis any account of these disturbances in Canada, and of the par- ties which have long distracted it. The Falls of Niagara made a great impression on him: — " I felt, as it were, staggered and confused, and at times experienced a sensation bordering on alarm, I did not well know at what — a strong, mysterious, sort of impression that something dreadful might happen, "It "pro- duced a kind of dizzy reverie more or less akin to sleep." This feeling he declares he could not shake off. True, he was suffi- ciently collected a day or two after, for his Brockville speech; but in order to account for " the indifference which I struggled in vain to throw off as to the politics of Lower Canada, al- though the topic v/as then swallowing up every other conside- ration," he gravely declares that he vvas yet under the stunning influence of the Falls. " Our recent intercourse with Nia- gara, and the many wild and curious scenes," &c. When we ask him the meaning of all the noise and clamour, he tells, like Mrs. Sullen in the Beaux Stratagem, of the singing in his ears. But mark the gentleman's consistency with his own story, *' It was my intention, however, notwithstanding the appear- ance of this Report and Evidence, to have inserted, at this place, a sketch of the discussions alluded to, but I thought it right to SUPPRESS it, in consequence of recent changes in that quarter, and the disposition which really appears to exist on both sides to start afresh, to turn over a new leaf, and to join cordially in advancing the prosperity of a country so high- ly gifted by nature and by fortune!" He therefore contents himself with referring his readers to documents ordered to be printed on the 22d July, 1828, and, escaping from facts, adopts the more congenial language of assertion. "The foundations of those powers which preserve social order are certainly more stable and better organized in the Provinces than in the United States. Their rulers do not derive their authority from those over whom their power is to be exercised; they look up, and not down, for approbation, and can therefore use that authority with more genuine independence.^' It is for Captain Hall's countrymen, rather than for us, to complain of this " suppression." He leaves home for the pur- pose of seeing things with his own eyes: " I confess I was some- what incredulous o( the faming accounts given in England'' &c.. Yet after he has made observations on a point of such vital importance as that of the popular sentiment in Canada, he thinks it politic to "suppress" them, and to refer his readers to a mass of documents, which few of them will ever think of looking into, and which Captain Hall, it is to be hoped, never examined, since they exhibit a picture directly the reverse of that which he has drawn. He does not hesitate to recommend to Great Ill Britain the completion of vast and expensive works, cost lohcit they may, and yet withholds information, which might enable Parliament to decide how far such an expenditure is likely to prove of ultimate benefit. Did he find any thing in the United States to "suppress V With regard to that people, heavily taxed as he represents them, the only complaint we hear, is of their enthusiastic attachment to the Government. For the public land there, a stipulated price is received, and yet it is eagerly sought for and improved. In Canada the people are exempt from taxation, because the pinch of it is felt in Great Britain. The Government, instead of receiving a compensation for its land, not only gives it away, but has incurred an expense of sixty pounds sterling, for each family of Irish paupers, agreeing to accept a hundred acres; and yet the temper is such, that Cap- tain Hall thinks it unwise publicly to repeat the language of disaffection which reached his ear. Although the roar of Niagara, had so deafened him, that he could not hear the dissensions of Canada, he expresses without he- sitation an opinion as to matters, which would seem to demand rather more of patient investigation. Thus he says, " TheLaios, which are in facty those of England, are out of all sight more steady, and, from that circumstance, besides many others, bet- ter administered tha^n in the United States." Where he picked up this information, he does not deign to inform us. Mr. Tal- bot furnishes the following statement: " So complicated are the laws, so indifferently understood, and so ill defined, that lawsuits are as numerous in every part of the country as excommunica- tions and indulgences were in England, in the early days of Hen- ry the Eighth." " The Laws by which Lower Canada is go- verned, are the Costume de Paris, or, ' The Custom of Paris,' as it existed in France, in the year 1666, the Civil or Roman Law in cases where the Custom of Paris is silent, the edicts, declarations, and ordinances, of the French Governors of Ca- nada, the Acts of the British Parliament passed concerning Ca- nada, and by the English Criminal Law." " The most griev- ous restriction under which the Canadians labour, with respect to the tenure of their lands, is that which compels them to pay to the Seigneur, what are termed, lodes et veyites, or fines of alienation on all mutations of property, en roture. By this law, if an estate changes its proprietors half-a-dozen times in a year, the Seigneur is entitled, on every mutation, to receive one-twelfth of the whole purchase money; which one-twelfth, be it remembered, must be paid by the new purchaser, and is exclusive of the sum agreed to be given to the actual proprie- tor." ^^ Belief IS the revenue of one year dueto the Lord for cer- tain mutations." See also, his explanation of "Fief," "quinte" " rebat," &c. " It is very unsafe to purchase property in Ca- nada, unless the sale is effected by the agency of a sheriff." In the Parliamentary discussion of 182S, on the subject of Ca- iiada, Mr. Huskisson, the Secretary for the Colonial Department, uses the following language: *' There is no possibility of suing or being sued, except in the French Courts, and according to the French form and practice; no mode of transacting commercial t)usiness, except under French customs now obsolete in France. In Lower Canada, they go upon the law and system of feudal tenure, and the law is more incapable of ever being improved or modified, by the progress of information or knowledge, than if it still remained the system of France, and the model of her dependencies." Certainly, this not only beats our Laws ''out of sight," ac- cording to the Captain's singular expression, but is a fair match for those of Caligula himself, which were " hung upon pillars 60 high that nobody could read them." (Blackstone.) As to the administration of justice, Mr. Talbot gives us the following information: "The District Judges, unfavoura- ble as public opinion is to their integrity, possess, I dare say, as much honesty as their most conscientious neighbours, are equally intelligent, and just as deeply read in British Jurispru- dence. Many of them in fact, to use plain language, are as ig- norant of the laws of the country, as they are of the Code of Napoleon; and the Jurors, who are not the most enlightened men in the world, are said not be over burdened with scrupu- lous consciences. But they are remarkable for a noble inde- pendence which causes them to pay as little attention to the charge of a Judge as to the evidence of a witness. The for- mer, they are confident, knows little more than themselves; and as to the latter he might as well tell his tale to the midnight breeze, for they generally enter the box determined respecting the decision which they intend to give. Pi'edilection for a friend, or malice against an enemy, too often influence them in their verdicts. Indeed, they seem to know little, and to care less, about the moral obligation of an oath; and an honest, un- prejudiced, decision, the result of mature deliberation and calm ■conviction, is seldom to be witnessed," vol. i. p. 411-12. "It is an extraordinary circumstance, that there are some few per- sons, in almost every district, whose appointment to a Com- mission of the Peace, would add respectability to the magis- tracy of the country; and yet they are allowed to continue pri- vate characters notwithstanding the great necessity there is, for appointing such men to offices under Government. In the Lon- don district, in which I have resided for several years, I know many highly respectable individuals, some of whom are half- pay Captains in the British Army, whose names were left out of the Commission of the peace, or rather not included in it, while many of their neighbours were appointed, who would not add to the respectability of a gang of pig-jobbers. The fact is, the members of the Executive Government seem de- termined to place in every department, civil as well as military. 116 such men only, as they are confident will at any time lie down, and alloiv their superiors to walk over them," ib. p. 416. " If a magistrate, or a military officer, were publicly known to disapprove of any of the measures of the Executive Govern- ment, no matter how subversive those m.easures tnight be of the people^ s rights, he would very soon be deprived of his lit- tle share of * brief authority,' and allowed to remain the rest of his life a cashiered officer, or broken down esquire," ib. 416. '^When Mr. Gourlay was banished from the country, in a very unconstitutional manner, his Jlcquaintance, most of whom were officers in the Militia, or Justices of the Peace, were, to a man, deprived of their Commissio7is, for the simple crime of having associated with him. Oppressive treatment will alien- ate even the sffections of a child from its parent, and the arbi- trary m,easures of a Governm,ent professing to be free, es- pecially when such measures are directed against innocent and unoffisnding individuals, must infallibly weaken the loyalty of a spirited and independent subject. Jf another War ivere to break out between Great Britain and the United States, I greatly fear, that these discarded officers, ivith many thoU' sands of the people in Upper Canada, would warmly resent the indignity which they have suffered by ' showing a pair of fair heels' to the British Government, and enlisting under the banners of the hostile power." Captain Hall seems to have rightly thought that this part of the picture was so bare as to require a double portion of var- nish. One of his odd suggestions is, that the terms " Parent State," *' Mother Country," &c. , are inappropriate to the relationship of England to Canada, and he gravely proposes, (vol. i. p. 414,) though with a great deal of unsailorlike circumlocution, to sub- stitute '' Husband and Wife." It is not for us to say how far this is connected with his evident wish to fix on England a per- petual liability for the debts and maintenance of the Colony. Every body knows that, in law, a man becomes thus liable, to third persons, by holding out a woman as his wife, even though no wedding may have taken place. We have nothing to do with this, and only refer to the passage, for the purpose of re- marking, that whenever he uses the term " Canada," both pro- vinces are included. It would involve a breach of law, as well as of decency, were the proposal of intermarriage to refer to the two in the disjunctive. Now, amongst the assertions which he makes, with regard to the country thus designated, is the following: "In every part of Canada, we found the inhabi- tants speaking English." (Vol. i. p. 265.) This universal prevalence of the English language is happily illustrated, when we find ourselves (vol. i. p 362) in a boat, which had brought up British Government stores, and in which all the boatmen spoke " a corrupted or perhaps antiquated sort of French, of il4 which I understood very few words.*'* At page 397, we are introduced to a settlement, where ''they spoke French exclu- sively;" and we hear, (p. 393,) of *' the French peasantry, who form the mass of the population in Lower Canada." Mr. Tal- bot, speaking of his perambulation of Quebec, says, " Not a word of English did I hear; not a face that was English did I see, until, to my great satisfaction, I found myself in a British mercantile warehouse, where, on looking around me, and re- flecting on the short excursion I had taken, I was reminded, that instead of having been engaged in placing the last stone in the Tower of Babel, I had only concluded my first walk in the city of Quebec." Such, then, as we have exhibited it, was the spirit in which Captain Hall commenced his sei'ious examination of the United States. Full of prejudices, he confesses a "wish" that they should be confirmed, rather than removed; and he stood pub- licly pledged to his Canadian friends, and to Consistency, to prove that our escape from a Colonial condition had thrown us back, instead of advancing us, in prosperity, happiness, and strength. The influence of this temper in leading to the most absurd and determined misconception has already been exposed. It is, perhaps, most ridiculously displayed shortly after recrossing the line, but about matters too trivial to justify our pausing on them. At Albany, however, he found the legislature in ses- sion. It seems, that the object of the meeting was, "not to transact the ordinary business of the State, but to revise the laws, 3. favourite eTnployment all over the country. ^^ The method of proceeding is thus described: " After prayers had been said, and a certain portion of the ordinary formal business gone through, the regular proceedings were commenced by a consideration of Chapter IV. of the Revised Laws. It appeared that a joint committee of the two houses had been appointed to attend to this subject, and to report the result of their delibe- rations. The gentlemen nominated had no trifling task to per- form, as I became sensible upon a farther acquaintance with the subject. All the existing Laws of the State, which were very voluminous, were to be compared and adjusted, so as to be consistent with one another, after which the result was print- ed, and laid before the legislature, so that each chapter, section, and clause, might be discussed separately, when of course the Members of the Council of Revision, had to explain their pro- ceedings." On the first d^y of Captain Hall's attendance, the following sectir^n came under consideration. "A well reguh'.ted militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed." One gen- tleman made a speech, with which the Captain was particular- ly disgusted, and we have the following glimpse at it. " Pu- 118 ring this excursion amongst the clouds, he referred frequently to the History of England, gave us an account of the manner in which Magna Charta was wrested from, 'that monster,' King John, and detailed the whole history of the Bill of Rights." Now we respectfully submit, that however superfluous all this may have been, it was certainly not in the temper which Cap- tain Hall would fain make us believe, is prevalent in all these assemblies. It is, assuredly, very different, from, ''For eigh- teen hundred years the world had slumbered in ignorance of liberty, and of the true rights of freemen," which he considers a characteristic piece of bombast. Here was a man willing to render a deserved tribute to the brave spirits of the olden time. He, it seems, was not afraid to express his gratitude to the Ba- rons of England, assembled at Runnemede, and he referred to that English Bill of Rights, which has furnished to us an in- valuable model. Is there any thing here of the "habit" of ^'depreciating every thing English," which Captain Hall has undertaken to record on the same page? But these remarks have diffused themselves over a wide space, and the reader will doubtless think it more than time that they should be brought to a close. We hope that their primary object has not been lost sight of. It is to us, comparatively, unimportant, whether Captain Hall's book may supply materials for "confusing" those who, in Great Britain, regard the present state of things as susceptible of improvement. We are little annoyed at sneers about un- brushed hats, unpolished shoes, and pantaloons of not an exact fit. Still less do we dread its exciting disaffection in the Uni- ted States, by the array of miseries which the tourist, not find- ing just at hand, is compelled to seek in anticipation. We are likely to remain content with our cheap government, cheap justice, and cheap food. But a more painful feeling is excited by the declaration of an Officer in the service of Great Britain, that the United States are, in this country, an object of odium, and that it is not worth while to attempt, or even to desire, a change of sentiment. We regret the use which may, be made of what he has thus put on record. Such statements often pass, at the moment, without exciting active resentment, but recur, with a decisive influence, at periods of great excitement for alleged wrongs or indignities. They may rush from the Me- mory into the Passions on the first petition of an impressed sea- man — rendering irresistible the appeal of a citizen forced from beneath the national flag to fight the battles of a country which holds his own in abhorrence, against a friendly power, and un- der the orders, perhaps, of the very individual who has mixed up this annunciation of hatred, with pointless but insolent sar- casm on the country, its institutions, and its people. Those who are, hereafter, destined, on either side of the Atlantic, to 119 look out on the gloom of ocean for dismal tidings of bloody and unnatural strife, and to await in speechless agony the dreaded lists of destruction, may well remember with execration the efforts which seem to be making to prepare the wa}'^ for a fierce and uncompromising struggle. It is the object of these pages to expostulate with this spirit of wanton mischief. We will be amply satisfied if they induce an examination of the trifling, but pernicious, volumes to whicli they refer, in a mood different from that which the author as- sumes to exist and has laboured to gratify. We venture to assert, that if thus viewed, the very phrases which Captain Hall has put into the mouths of Americans, to convey an idea of their lofty and sanguine pretensions, and their dislike of England, will be found to indicate, with the greatest clearness, the existence of that deep-seated feeling of deference, from which it is so difiicult for a derivative people to disengage themselves. Thus he gives us, in derision, an in- quiry made of him, by an American friend, whether we were not "treading close on the heels of the mother country;" and again at Albany, after witnessing the proceedings of the legis- lature, he was asked, "Do we not resemble the mother coun- try much more than you expected? Can it be seriously thought that such language would find its way to the lips of persons who habitually delighted to place their institutions in odious contrast with those of "the mother country?" Would a Pro- testant in England inquire of a Catholic from the Continent, with an expression of hope, whether his principles and form of worship did not greatly resemble those of the Church of Rome? Alas for the temper of a man like Captain Hall, who, in the sort oi filial questions put to him, can see nothing but a spirit of vanity and intolerance! "In no other country," he says, "does there exist such an excessive and universal sensitiveness as to the opinions enter- tained of them by the English. It may be remarked in passing that they appear to care less for what is said of them by other foreigners; but it was not until I had studied this curious fea- ture in the Americans long and attentively, and in all parts of the country, that I came to a satisfactory explanation of it." In another place, he says, "I remember one evening, being a good deal struck with the driver singing, in a very plaintive style, ^ Should auld acquaintance be forgot.' I afterwards led him into conversation about our common country, as I thought, but to my surprise I found he had never been out of North Carolina, though his feelings appeared nearly as true to the land of his forefathers as if they had never left it." Yet Captain Hall is obliged to resort to an invidious hypothe- sis to explain why the Americans should take a peculiar in- terest in the opinions entertained of them in " the land of their fore-fathers!" 120 Let us try if we can reach his heart, by supposing for a mo- ment that the amiable little personage who has so large a share in these volumes should be destined, amidst the chances of fortune to terminate her days in that country. Does he suppose that she could speedily forget all that she had seen, and heard, and felt in the parent land — and has he yet to learn how those feel- ings pass from mother to mother, and from nurse to nurse? Does he believe that through a long course of years she would not thrill with enthusiasm, when "auldlang syne," recalled the recollection of that — " Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, Land of the mountain and the flood; or that she could ever cease to exclaim — " Land of my sires, what mortal hand Can e'er untie the fihal band. That binds me to thy rugged strand ?" And if a future Scotch tourist should find amongst her de- scendants, this feeling yet alive — displaying itself in the warmth of his welcome, and in anxiety for his good opinion — how must Captain Hall's indignation kindle at imagining him en- gaged in framing some stupid and malignant hypothesis to ac- count for all this, and actually converting its existence into a subject of ridicule and disparagement! The '*unkindness'' of which he speaks, ^' may do much," but it has much to overcome. — " Naturam cxpellas /wrca tamen usque recurret." Let us hope that juster, and more generous sentiments, may be cultivated. It was a custom of the States of Ancient Greece, which conveyed a beautiful moral, that the memorials of their strife should be of perishable materials, and the Thebans were justly rebuked in the Amphictyonic Council, for having com- memorated in brass their contest with the Lacedaemonians (Ci- cero Invent. Lib. 2.) Surely such a policy ought not to be forgotten, because we live in an age of Christianity. THE END. ^39 0^ o'^"*. '^O. A.'i'^ ..^" ' J"^^ ^ ^ '< ^tt^c^^ ot^^^mC" ^^&* ^^^^m>^\ '^^r